White Fragility Why Understanding Racism Can Be So Hard for White People (Adapted for Young Adults)

A reimagining of the best-selling book that gives young adults the tools to ask questions, engage in dialogue, challenge their ways of thinking, and take action to create a more racially just world.
 
“I was taught to treat everyone the same.” “I don’t see color.” “My parents voted for Obama.” When white people have the opportunity to think and talk about race and racism, they more often than not don’t know how.

In this adaptation of Dr. Robin DiAngelo’s best-selling book White Fragility, anti-racist educators Toni Graves Williamson and Ali Michael explain the concept of systemic racism to young adult readers and how to recognize it in themselves and the world around them. Along the way, Williamson and Michael provide tools for taking action to challenge systems of inequity and racism as they move into adulthood. 
 
Throughout the book, readers will find the following:
· A dialogue between the adaptors that models anti-racist discussions
· Definitions of key terms
· Personal stories from this multiracial team
· Discussion prompts to encourage readers to journal their reactions and feelings
· Illustrations to help concepts of white fragility and systemic racism come alive
· Portraits of scholars and activists, including Carol Anderson, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Ijeoma Oluo, whose work is amplified throughout Dr. DiAngelo’s theory of white fragility.

Dr. Robin DiAngelo is an affiliate associate professor of education at the University of Washington. She has been a consultant, an educator, and a facilitator on issues of racial and social justice for more than twenty-five years. She is the author or coauthor of several books, including the New York Times bestsellers White Fragility and Nice Racism. Find her online at robindiangelo.com.


Toni Graves Williamson is a diversity practitioner and consultant, now serving as Director of Equity and Inclusion at Friends Select School in Philadelphia. She specializes in developing student leadership and programming for grades PK-12. Toni is a principal consultant of the Glasgow Group, a consortium of school educators that provides professional development and coaching to schools and other organizations. She is co-director and facilitator for The Race Institute for K-12 Educators, a non-profit organization that provides a space for educators to do the deep personal work of understanding their racial identities. She is a contributing author to The Guide for White Women Who Teach Black Boys and Teaching Beautiful Brilliant Black Girls. She is a native and proud Southerner, but currently resides in Philadelphia.

 
Ali Michael, PhD is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Race Institute for K-12 Educators. She works with schools and colleges across the country to help make the research on race and education more accessible to educators. Part of her research and writing focuses on parenting for anti-racism, including what White children need to know about race to be contributing members of a multiracial society. Her goal is to support White people to have healthy, productive conversations about race in which they see how they can take an active role in working for racial justice. She is the author of the award-winning book Raising Race Questions and co-editor of the bestselling Guide for White Women who Teach Black Boys. Ali lives in Philadelphia with her family and two of the world's cutest kittens.

How to Read This Book

Introductions

CHAPTER 1
Why Talking About Race Can Be So Hard for White People

CHAPTER 2
Racism, Supremacists, Supremacy

CHAPTER 3
“Non-Racist” Is Not a Thing

CHAPTER 4
How Does Race Shape the Lives of White People?

CHAPTER 5
The Good/Bad Binary

CHAPTER 6
Why Does Racism Always Seem So Black and White?

CHAPTER 7
So What Exactly Is White Fragility?

CHAPTER 8
What Does White Fragility Look Like in Action and How Does It Get in the Way?

CHAPTER 9
Media Analysis—Social and Otherwise

CHAPTER 10
From Fragility to Agility

Acknowledgments
Additional Resources
Notes
Index
About the Authors