Nice Racism
How Progressive White People Perpetuate Racial Harm
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- €10.99
Publisher Description
Racism is not a simple matter of good people versus bad. In White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo explained how racism is a system into which all white people are socialized. She also made a provocative claim: that white progressives cause the most daily harm to people of colour. In Nice Racism, her follow-up work, she explains how they do so. Drawing on her background as a sociologist and over twenty-five years working as an antiracist educator, she moves the conversation forward.
Writing directly to white people as a white person, DiAngelo identifies many common racial patterns and breaks down how well-intentioned white people unknowingly perpetuate racial harm. Writing candidly about her own missteps and struggles, she models a path forward, encouraging white readers to continually face their complicity and embrace courage, lifelong commitment and accountability. Nice Racism is an essential work for any white person who wants to take steps to align their values with their actual practice, and offers people of colour an 'insider's' perspective which may be helpful for navigating whiteness.
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DiAngelo follows White Fragility with a fierce critique of the "culture of niceness" that prevents the hard work of dismantling racism. She identifies many problematic behaviors associated with white progressives, such as showcasing one's "credentials" ("I don't see color"; "my best friend or partner is Black") to establish one's "goodness," co-opting nonwhite culture under the guise of spirituality, and expressing disingenuous guilt over the privileges afforded by whiteness. DiAngelo, who is white, has particularly harsh criticism for diversity initiatives that address "every other possible form of oppression" in order to make white people feel included; she also asserts that many "woke" white people mistakenly believe that unintentional acts can't qualify as racist, and that they are not truly open to the perspectives of people of color, and fail to recognize that a belief in "individualism" ("if we all just saw ourselves as individuals, racism would go away") upholds white supremacy. Defending herself against accusations that she's taking the spotlight away from BIPOC authors, DiAngelo asserts that her work is meant to be read in conjunction with theirs, and includes a study guide to help readers "go deep and grapple." Though DiAngelo's defensiveness is more exhausting than inspiring, she dismantles unconscious biases with precision. Readers will feel compelled to hold themselves more accountable.
