DiAngelo kicks this chapter off with one of the most incredibly ridiculous statements:
"But systems of oppression are deeply rooted and not overcome with the simple passage of legislation."
This idea, that "legislation" is the cure all for the ills of the world, is wholeheartedly misguided. No amount, strength, or reach of so-called legislation can or ever will change any level of "oppression" as such oppression is rooted in human behavior. Laws cannot change human behavior directly, but if carefully crafted they can change them indirectly. But this is for another blog, not this one.
"One line of King's speech in particular -- that one day he might be judged by the content of his character and not the color of his skin -- was seized upon by the white public because the words were seen to provide a simple and immediate solution to racial tensions: pretend that we don't see race, and racism will end."
False equivalency fallacy. Focusing on the inherent positive attributes of an individual that they have to offer to better their lives and the lives of others through their employment is in no way shape or for a way for white people to "pretend that we don't see race, and racism will end." This gives credence to the saying one can be so educated and smart but yet be so damn utterly stupid.
DiAngelo then makes this spurious claim:
"... a common response in the name of color blindness is to declare that an individual who says that race matters is the one who is racist. In other words, it is racist to acknowledge race."
Context matters. So yeah, depending on the context in which one acknowledges race it can in fact be racist. That's not rocket science, that's common sense. Well, at least for the literate and educated.
"While the idea of color blindness may have started out as a well-intentioned strategy for interupting racism, in practice it has served to deny the reality of racism and this hold it in place."
Color blindness was the goal, not the strategy. The end result was to see everyone as equals and focus on merit and not skin color. It is to white guilt liberals and black democrats that kept racism alive, especially the race hustlers like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and militant blacks like Louis Farrakhan and the Black Panthers. They were the ones truly resistant to change and wanted nothing to do with a color-blind society. They needed to keep fanning the flames in order to make money for themselves off the misery of those they claim to represent.
"Racial bias is largely unconscious, and herein lies the deepest challenge - the defensiveness that ensues upon any suggestion of racial bias."
We are all born empty slates, racism is taught not inbred. Like all stereotypes, biases, defense mechanisms, etc., the innate survival mechanism determines what is a threat and what is not. Personal experience. Vicarious experience. Academic experience. Professional experience. All, some or parts inform us through one measure of experience what is and what is not a danger to our survival. And when half the black male population commits over 50% of the entire US populations violent person crimes (e.g., murder, non-negligent manslaughter, robberies, rape, etc.), it is perfectly logical and understandable to fear black men. Even Jesse Jackson was famously quoted fearing for his life when he heard footsteps behind him on a street, only to feel relief when he turned around and saw it was a group of white people. If a race hustler like Jackson can feel fear from other blacks, that alone speaks volumes about this problem that has nothing to do with any racist bias but a reality bias for self-preservation.
"Research in implicit bias has shown that perceptions of criminal activity are influenced by race."
"White people will perceive danger simply by the presence of black people; we cannot trust our perceptions when it comes to race and crime."
"Racist images and resultant white fears can be found at all levels of society, and myriad studies demonstrate that whites believe that people of color (and blacks in particular) are dangerous."
No, fact-based data regarding the demographics of offenders is what influences the perceptions of criminal activity based on race. As aforementioned, black males, that is half the black male population in the United States (approximately 3% of their 6% of the total 14% black population) commits over 50% of the entire nation's violent person crimes (e.g., murder, non-negligent manslaughter, robberies, rape, etc.). But more than that, personal experience as victims of crime, black or white, substantiates that bias. Especially given the fact that intraracial violence is nothing short of an epidemic in inner city black communities. Blacks in this country are violent, and they cause a disproportionate amount of both violent person and property crime in this country. The recent summer #BurnLootMurder riots of 2020 prove that, in addition to any and all race-based riots from Rodney King forward.
Such race-based riots simply do not happen when white people are victims of either black murderers like this (every year blacks kill more whites than vice versa), or by cops. And a recent Washington State University study has proven that law enforcement are less likely to pull the trigger on a black suspect than they are white or Hispanic suspects.
"Whites rarely consider how sheltered and safe their spaces may be from the perspective of people of color (e.g., Trayvon Martin's experience in a gated white community). Because it reverses the actual direction of racial danger, this narrative may be one of the most pernicious."
Yeah so sheltered that many, and I mean many blacks leave the inner city (i.e., hood) and move into predominately white neighborhoods because they want to be subjugated to that reversal "direction of racial danger." I am sure that that is exactly what #grifter #fraud #charlatan #BurnLootMurder founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors thought when she bought million dollar homes among whites and the rich and famous. Give me a break, DiAngelo.
"We believe we are superior at a deeply internalized level and act on this belief in the practice of our lives, but we must deny this belief to fit into society and maintain our self-identity as good, moral people."
It does not matter what I, you, we, them or anyone "believes," feels, or thinks. The only thing that matters is what can be proven. Your subjective spurious claims cannot be proven on the scale that you infer them. Fact is, a history of personal and vicarious experience (i.e., through reported data obtained through research) is what is used to prove that some races are simply just smarter and better than others. Asians being at the top of that list, and blacks and other people of color at the bottom of that list. This reality has nothing to do with racism, a "belief" that one race is superior to another, it is a fact proven by the data. The various races have simply tested academically, and professionally, differently from the other. While there are obvious exception to the rule, those exceptions are not the rule.
"To understand how white people become so difficult in conversations about race, we need to understand the underlying foundation of white fragility; how being white shapes our perspectives, experiences and responses."
There is no such thing as white fragility, let's get that clear. That is a made-up term spawned from white guilt liberals such as DiAngelo.
Every child, regardless of any demographic background, is born a blank slate. Racism is learned, just like anything and everything else in interactive social life of human societies. It is not an innate factor of being a human being. But through constant bombardment of suttle and overt messages indoctrinating children, they learn to become what those messages are designed to illicit.
"... whiteness has psychological advantages that translate into material return."
No, it does not. People, regardless of background, have to earn their way in life, and they only get out of it what they put into it. Period. Justice Clarence Thomas, Dr. Ben Carson, John McWhorter, Thomas Sowell, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, former Officer Brandon Tatum, and so many others prove this salient fact of life. It is the victimhood mentality that creates barriers to the material returns in life, not whiteness or blackness.
"Another way that life has been shaped by being white is that my race is held up as the norm for humanity."
Whiteness, or Caucasians are not the norm for humanity. What is the norm include but are not limited to integrity, honesty, loyalty, law abiding, hardworking, and all the other like-positive attributes of humanity. How one chooses to live their life is on them and it has nothing to do with whiteness, blackness, or anything else other than individual desires to be good, bad or a little of both to their own self-serving ends.
"Virtually any representation of human is based on white people's norms and images - 'flesh colored' makeup, standard emoji, depictions of Adam and Eve, Jesus and Mary, educational models of the human body with white skin and blue eyes."
If black skin was the predominate color of human beings on this planet who have created new advancements and moved the world forward, then any representation of human would be based on black skin and brown eyes. Whatever or whomever is the dominates feature in any aspect of the world and our human existence will likewise be equally represented the norms and images put out for consumption. That is just a fact of life.
"White solidarity requires both silence about anything that exposes the advantages of the white position and tacit agreement to remain racially united in the protection of white supremacy."
Please. Replace white with black and it means the same thing. Every racial group has solidarity, and each has its own culture and heritage they are proud of. It is their individual and collective right to be who they are without worry of an outside group criticizing them for being who and what they are by race, heritage, culture and/or religion (if applicable).
"Romanticized recollections of the past and calls for a return to former ways are a function of white privilege, which manifests itself in the ability to remain oblivious to our racial history."
Really? So, whose idea was this:
Then you have authors who have studied/researched and written about this:
Neither of these realities have anything to do with white privilege but rather personal choice of the individual(s) involved. As of late, blacks and other people of color, but namely blacks are self-segregating themselves. They are being far more outspoken in the media, books, talk shows, pundits, etc. in open ways on par if not more so than what the Klu Klux Klan were. Joy-Ann Reid, Elie Mystal, Al Sharpton, Ben Crump, Louis Farrakhan, Nicole Hannah Jones, and so many more are exercising their #blackprivilege to be outwardly #racist towards #whites, #Asians, and anyone else not #black. Especially if they do not agree with their position(s), which definitely includes other blacks for whom they ascribe the label Uncle Tom, race traitor, coon, so on and so forth.
"Claiming that the past was socially better than the present is also a hallmark of white supremacy."
Are you kidding me!?! The past was socially better than the present, and none of it has to do with white supremacy. People were more respectful, kind, compassionate, honest, cooperative and exhibited all the other positive attributes of humanity. None of which is a hallmark of white supremacy, but rather our capacity to be "human."
"The romanticized 'traditional' family values of the past are also racially problematic."
Really? Before civil rights, black families maintained a nuclear family and the abortion rate was at or below 22%. Despite racism and Jim Crow, blacks were prosperous. The very first woman to become a millionaire in this country was a black female, Madam CJ Walker. The first renowned black doctor, Dr. James McCune Smith, worked hard and attained his position before slavery even ended. How did either one of them, or any successful black American throughout history ever achieve such success despite so many "racially problematic" obstacles? Faith. Motivation. Perseverance. Devotion. Integrity. More importantly, personal responsibility and accountability.
"White flight may be seen as another aspect of white racial innocence, as it is often justified by beliefs that POC (again, especially blacks) are more prone to crime and that if "too many" black people move into a neighborhood, crime will increase, home values will go down, and the neighborhood will deteriorate."
Truth to be told, this is about the only factually accurate statement DiAngelo makes in the entire book. And it isn't an issue or matter of belief, as it doesn't matter what one believes, feels or things but rather what can be proven. The historical data proves factually accurate that when blacks moved near or into better neighborhoods, they soon declined due to the criminality brought to it. It is the very reason or basis of the "broken windows" theory. Something that DiAngelo clearly knows nothing of seeing as she is neither a criminologist nor has had any experience in the field to know one way or the other. Hence her lack of an argument to substantiate her spurious anti-white position regarding her assertion.
"For most whites, the percentage of young men of color in a neighborhood is directly correlated with perceptions of the neighborhood crime level."
DiAngelo just does not speak for "most whites" or even a few whites; but regardless of that obvious fact, the criminological data affirms such a perception making it more of a reality that fantasy. The fact is and has been for decades that half the black male population in this country commits over 50% of the entire nation's violent person crimes. That's just a fact. There is no way around it.
"Deeply held white associations of black people with crime distort reality and the actual direction of danger that has historically existed between whites and blacks."
Crying (Wolf Syndrome) racism doesn't change the aforementioned fact either. It just screams your ignorance when you do so. After all it is precisely why Jesse Jackson was quoted as saying he is always relieved to turn around in a dark alley seeing a group of whites than blacks when hearing footsteps approaching him from behind. Whites are not prone to attack a black man walking alone, but a group of black men will most certainly do so. Which is precisely why intraracial violence within black communities is such a problem in inner cities.
"It has been well documented that blacks and Latinos are stopped by police more often than whites are for the same activities and that they receive harsher sentences than whites do for the same crimes."
Nothing like a non-criminologist opining on criminal justice matters she clearly has no comprehension thereof. Blacks and Hispanics commit a disproportionate amount of crime compared to whites; and they likewise have longer criminal histories than whites charged with the same crime. It is for that very reason, criminal history, that goes into implementing sentencing harsher for blacks and Hispanics because that is exactly what the sentencing guidelines dictate. Blacks and Hispanics are just far more violent than whites.
"American police must face down armed violent criminals. That’s their job. Often those violent threats come from young, male, urban African Americans. As long as that is the case there will be violent confrontations between police and black civilians. Increasing the number of black police officers won’t change this. Nor will study commissions, police budget reductions, chokehold prohibitions, or the elimination of qualified immunity from civil suits, to mention a few of the proposals to curb police being bandied about. Some of these proposals may be wise, some not. But none will dramatically reduce the number of violent confrontations between police and African Americans."
"There is no doubt that African-American juveniles are more likely than Caucasian juveniles to be arrested for serious (index) violent offenses in the United States (homicide, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault)."
I can go on and on and on citing study after study, fact after fact outlining just how blacks, black males specifically, are just more prone to violence and a problem for society despite being such a small percentage of the overall population. But the one thing that bothers me is the consistent erroneous citation that black Americans are 13% of the population committing X crimes. That just isn't the case. While black Americans are 13% of the US population, it is predominately black males committing the crimes. Not all black males, obviously, but statistically it is about half the black male population, which is 6%. That means roughly 3% (or less) of the black male population is committing more than half the heinous violent crimes in the United States and have been for decades.
"Life in the United States is deeply shaped by racial segregation."
That goes without saying, as all races have a natural proclivity to congregate together versus mingling together. That is both a fact and just human nature. Trying to make it into some "racist" narrative is counterintuitive and counterproductive to the realities of humanity. We all just associate with whom we choose to associate with. That's life. Like it or not, it is what it is.
"Of all racial groups, whites are the most likely to choose segregation and are the group most likely to be in the social and economic position to do so."
Psychology tells us that we all desire to congregate with those most like us. That's not segregation. That's choice. The same as blacks choosing to congregate with those most like them. As cited above, "why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria."
"Meritocracy is a precious ideology of the United States, but neighborhoods and schools are demonstratably not equal, they are separate and unequal."
"Tax bases, school resources, curricula, textbooks, opportunities for extracurricular activities, and the quality of the teaching staff differ widely between school districts."
Not by design, but rather by circumstances of each district. Schools are placed in areas to service the nearby homes within that district. Schools that are built to service the inner-city districts lack funding precisely because the property taxes are relative to the value of the homes in those districts. Those homes have low values due to the fact that the neighborhoods are rundown and high in crime. No one can afford to fix up their homes in order to increase their value. No one will cooperate with law enforcement against those who trespass and commit crimes against thy neighbors. So, there is no interest by anyone, anywhere to improve these districts. As such, the county cannot increase the property taxes since the value of the homes do not support it. Without an increase in that primary source of funding, the inner-city schools suffer; that fact of reality has nothing to do with meritocracy, inequality and/or racism and everything to do with the residents (to include parents of kids attending those schools) just not caring about their home, their neighborhood and equally the very schools they depend on educating their children.
Regarding districts that are predominately white having better funding, resources, etc., it goes without saying that the homes being assessed property taxes are of higher value because the owners take pride in not only their homes, but also in their neighborhoods and cooperate with law enforcement in order to keep crime down; thereby making their districts desirable places for others to live and move into. Again, none of that has anything to do with racism and everything to do with personal responsibility and accountability. Something of which the inner-city neighborhoods just lack, collectively and individually, making it tougher on themselves internally which affects them externally.
DiAngelo then uses a quote from an African American scholar and filmmaker, Omowale Akintunde to support more of her nonsensical tripe:
"Racism is a systemic, societal, institutional, omnipresent, and epistemologically embedded phenomenon that pervades every vestige of our reality."
Racism is a part of our very existence as human beings, for there is no one group that does not feel more superior over another. So yes, racism is a part of our reality, but it doesn't have to be. Racism is learned, it is not intrinsic. Which is a salient point that scholar Thomas Sowell made regarding blacks who remained in Europe post WWII and had children. Those children grew up with their white counterparts and had absolutely no difference in IQ or educational success. The question then becomes what happened in America where there was a difference with blacks scoring lower and being less successful academically. Answer: Black Culture.
"In a society in which race clearly matters, our race profoundly shapes us."
Well of course it does due to the fact that the left, democrats and race hustlers make race the central theme of everyday life in America; and more often than not where it most definitely simply does not exist or needs to exist.
"Those who claim to have been taught to treat everyone the same are simply telling me that they don't understand socialization."
"... we wouldn't want to treat everyone the same because people have different needs and different relationships."
OMG! When people say they have been taught to treat others the same as they themselves would like to be treated is about showing compassion, empathy, respect and kindness. It has nothing to do with "socialization" or kowtowing to the "different (personal) needs and different (personal) relationships" of others. Those matters are of a personal nature, in other words, personal responsibility and accountability. Outsiders have no say or play in those personal matters.
"Many POC have told me that they initially tried to talk about racism with their white friends, but their friends get defensive or invalidated their experiences, so they stopped sharing their experiences."
This anecdotal evidence without any real legitimate references or citations is meaningless.
While I served in the US Army, I had a close relationship with a black soldier serving on the Drug Suppression Team under the Criminal Investigation Division. One day he came to my office and gleefully made his presence known, "What's up my Ni**er!!" I was shocked. I asked him, "What did you say!?!" He repeated himself and said it was "cool" cause we are friends. I candidly replied that while we were friends and colleagues, there was no way I would refer to him the same and I didn't want him doing it with me, as I had too much respect for him. He understood and appreciated it. Bottom line, whites do not get defensive or invalidate anything...that is an empty claim that simply cannot be proven by DiAngelo. She only asserts it because of its appeal to emotion and ignorance value.
"While a white person may have been picked on - even mercilessly - by being in the numerical minority in a specific context, the individual was experiencing race prejudice and discrimination, not racism."
Wow. Just wow. At this point, might as well ask DiAngelo, "What is a Woman?" She could no more answer that question than she can what the factually accurate definition of "racism" is. When a black man feels superior to a white man, that [is] racism. And that level of racism I experienced while serving in the US Army while stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. I know racism as a white male in this country. From both blacks, Hispanics and others. But I did not let it keep me down. No. Merit. I persevered. I succeeded in life and retired at the young age of 45. Not entirely by choice, more medically; but the choices I made in life made it possible for me to do so at that age. I took personal responsibility and accountability for my behaviors and choices, or rather didn't make piss poor choices by acting with bad behaviors. Most POC can and never will say the same. That's just a fact and has absolutely nothing to do with race.
"While it isn't comfortable for most whites to talk about racism, we must do so if we want to challenge - rather than protect - racism."
*Roll eyes* Whites do talk about racism and want to; but when they speak the truth, they are relentlessly crucified with the accusation of being "a racist." I know, as I deal with on a daily basis online, be it Twitter, Instagram or Facebook (among other social media sites). Truth is a cancer to those in utter ignorant denial of that truth. The social media platforms do not like the truth either. I have been kicked off Twitter three times, Instagram four times and Facebook two times. It is an utterly pathetic display of intellectual cowardice on their part. Each and every time it was because I cited fact based criminological data affirming that less than half the 6% population of black males were committing over 50% of the entire nation's murders and non-negligent manslaughters, in addition to being overrepresented in mass shootings as well. Fact. Truth. And I even appealed to Twitter and Instagram and was denied. Truth sounds like hate to those who hate the truth.
"Racism is complex and nuanced, and its manifestations are not the same for every group of color."
Naturally. Other groups of color do not focus on racism like black Americans do, especially the left, Democrats and race hustlers who make it their mission in life to "Cry Wolf" (racism) any and every chance they get.
"Exploring our collective racial identity interrupts a key privilege of dominance - the ability to see oneself only as an individual. We need to discuss white people as a group - even if doing so jars us - in order to disrupt our unracialized identities."
Being an individual is not dominance, it is individuality, the core of our humanity. As individuals we are responsible for our own individual actions, choices and behaviors. Sadly, the left, Democrats and race hustlers absolutely refuse to hold people of color to the exact same level of personal responsibility and accountability they do upon whites. They hold whites to a higher standard while keeping POC at a lower standard. It serves their interests. Personal financial interests, that is.
"... I believe that in the white mind, black people are the ultimate racial "other," and we must grapple with this relationship, for it is a foundational aspect of the racial socialization underlying white fragility."
And yet that was never the same interpretation, application, thought process or otherwise in Europe after WWII, as Thomas Sowell so eloquently factually describes.
"... anti-blackness is foundational to our very identities as white people."
"Whiteness has always been predicated on blackness."
These two statements in and of themselves are purely racist. More than that, whiteness is no more predicated on blackness than blackness is predicated on whiteness. What all our lives are predicated on is life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness on an individual level. What is good for one, is not always good for another. Or enough for one, or another. We all have "individual" desires.
Again, Thomas Sowell has made it clear through decades of research that race has nothing to do with any issues between the races. Many black people are posting videos on YouTube of their reactions to learning these facts. I encourage others to check them out. The following are but a few examples:
"Affirmative Action is a tool to ensure that qualified minority applicants are given the same employment opportunities as white people."
This is patently false.
Affirmative Action was designed to give a leg up to minorities. A leg up that did not account for their deficiencies in academics and/or professional experiences. The Ricci v. DeStefano case is a clear-cut case of reverse discrimination.
"A 2015 study by the American Sociological Foundation found that the highest level of segregation is between black and whites, the lowest is between Asians and whites, and the level between Latinx and whites occupies an intermediate position. A majority of whites, in both the expression of their beliefs and the practice of their lives, do not want to integrate with blacks."
The relationship between blacks and whites is far more contentious than the relationship between Asians and whites. Blacks harbor unsubstantiated paranoia about whites due to their inability to acknowledge let alone accept personal responsibility and accountability. As such, it draws deep resentment that results in blacks with their psychological projection of their problems and failures onto whites. A fact that remains true today.
"We see anti-black sentiment in how quickly images of brutality towards black children (let alone black adults) are justified by the white assumption that it must have been deserved."
Strawman Fallacy! Studies have shown time and again that behavioral issues with black children have been the cause of their punishment, NOT "brutality."
"Thus, white identity depends in particular on the projection of inferiority onto blacks and the oppression this inferior status justifies for the white collective"
"To put it bluntly, I believe that the white collective fundamentally hates blackness for what it reminds us of: that we are capable and guilty of perpetuating harm that our gains come through the subjugation of others."
Cleary DiAngelo hasn't read let alone consulted The Bell Curve, which was a well-researched book on intelligence quotients. People of color, namely blacks, score lower on the academic scale. So, it is impossible for whites to "project" inferiority onto blacks, since blacks, in general, are less educated than whites and Asians.
"We see it in the outrage of the crowd of white progressives who showed up to hear Bernie Sanders speak in Seattle and were asked by black activists to grant four and a half minutes of silence to honor Michael Brown..."
Michael Brown? Really? He was a thug. He committed a strong-armed robbery of a convenience store for cigars, and then attacked a police officer who politely asked him to walk on the sidewalk versus the middle of the street. During the fight he tried to get the officer's service weapon. Michael Brown reaped what he sowed. And good riddance. Even the so-called "white progressives" (i.e. - white liberals) knew Brown was a POS not worth mentioning, let alone "honoring."
"White racial socializations engenders many conflicting feelings toward African-Americans: benevolence, resentment, superiority, hatred, and guilt roil barely below the surface and erupt at the slightest breach, yet never be explicitly acknowledged."
Um, the exact same thing can be said for blacks who self-segregate for this exact reason(s). This statement is one of pure #hypocrisy.
"Most white people have limited information about what racism is and how it works."
Clearly DiAngelo has never heard of the dictionary.
1: a belief that race is a fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
The rest of her book is pure garbage. I can go on and on and on dispelling her nonsensical positions and fallacious accusations against white people. Especially since it all comes from a white woman. A white guilt liberal woman, no less.
* This Blog Entry is a work in progress, as time allows.