This is a very strong and very necessary book which I recommend highly. DiAngelo begins by establishing that the underlying social mechanism is the power that whites hold over people of color, which places racism squarely in the hands of the larger society. By doing so, she ameliorates the tendency towards individual blame and guilt which may be destructive to the process. She also underlines that race is a myth, that it exists only to support the current power structure of supremacy and that it automatically privileges whites over others, eliminating the possibility that 'merit' will be used as the true indicator of reasons for success.She then illustrates the way in which 'white' is held up as normative, emphasizing the relativity (and therefore the falsehood) of the concept of 'white.' She also reemphasizes the fact that wealthy whites, who as a group hold most of society's power, allow the 'blame' for racial problems to fall on the backs of poor whites. She illustrates the way in which wealthy white racism distracts from admission to racism.Importantly, she emphasizes that white racial socialization creates a form of irrational behavior; that is, attempts to maintain this power also segue into an arena which is functionally severed from reality.She shows how white fragility leads to a refusal to engage in the real work of anti-racism and even to passive-aggressive bullying in the form of "Becky" tears.Lastly, Ms. DiAngelo asks white people to solve racism--because it is a problem held by a group of people with social power-- with anti-racist work rather than rely on people of color to do the work.Ms. DiAngelo is also humble throughout, even offering some of her own experiences as evidence of her own work and growth, which should make this book all the more palatable.
