That would not surprise me.
When someone in my church formed a reading group around White Fragility I signed up right away because
- I am curious to see if the criticisms commonly leveled against it (easily found on Medium) hold up,
- With the pandemic still a thing even here in Rhode Island (still one of a shrinking number of “declining case load” states) I have more than enough time, and
- I had an Audible credit hanging.
Getting back to 1., so far no, but I’m only just getting into chapter 3. That said, it’s beginning to seem like the most strident criticisms of this book are from people who haven’t read it. The overriding point she is at pains to make is that racism is a system and not a personal failing. It is so pervasive that we who are white grow up without seeing it directly, rather like fish in water. When this is pointed out many white people take umbrage. This definition (of racism) differs from earlier understandings from, say, the 70s, although the idea was around then, just not widely disseminated. Prejudice is the word we should get used to using to mean what racism used to mean.
