Professor Robin Di Angelo expounds on presence of ethnic intolerance in contemporary society
By Gregg Reese | OW Contributor
All the academic literature and scientific research (anti-bias curriculum, critical race theory, cultural hegemony, racial formation theory, historical race concepts, and so on) revolving around America’s age-old problem with race hold special relevance as the country’s tradition of violence is on the upswing.
Robin Di Angelo, who came to the CSU Dominguez Hills campus on Feb. 1, as part of its Dymally Institute Distinguished Speaker series, is currently an associate professor of education at the University of Washington. Di Angelo brings a unique perspective to the table as a Caucasian woman who “pulled herself up by the bootstraps,” to become a respected scholar, theorist in social justice, and a sought-after “anti-racism” trainer.
She is a prominent participant in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training programs that have become a fixture on college campuses and the educational system as a whole.
Di Angelo has been candid about her own impoverished upbringing, and equally honest about how White privilege balanced or eased her struggles as she emerged from the abyss of the working poor. Nonetheless, she still remembers the class and patriarchal constraints as she eluded the shackles of poverty.
In the course of her studies, she has coined the term “White fragility,” to describe the defense mechanisms American Whites adopt to counter stressful charges of racism they encounter in daily life.
An end result of all this scholarship is a considerable number of publications in professional journals and chapters in scholarly compilations, and notably the standalone volumes “White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism (a New York Times Bestseller translated into 12 languages), and its 2021 follow-up book “Nice Racism: How Progressive White People Perpetuate Racial Harm.”
Anthony Asadullah Samad, the distinguished speaker series executive director, explained the rationale for inviting Di Angelo was a way of inserting White participation into the discourse, which impacts everyone.
Di Angelo presented her arguments before a gathering of students, faculty, staff, and members of the community in the University Theater by introducing herself as an “insider to Whiteness” who’d been raised to see racism as a behavior that other White people were guilty of, and not pertinent to her own existence. During the course of her lecture, she presented a series of visual aids and data from academia, government, and media to show that leadership in every facet of American life was White (and overwhelmingly male).
She concluded that no one is free from the caustic effects of this malady, and stressed that the road to anti-racism is a lifelong process involving continual self analysis, and individual openness to criticism.
During the course of the presentation she stated “...if White people can hear it better when it comes from me, then I’m going to use this voice to help them hear it,” referencing the reality that people are more receptive to criticism from those from similar backgrounds than outsiders.
The event was shrouded by the recent police involved shootings of Anthony Lowe and Tyre Nichols, along with all the racially-related mayhem which has become a fixture of life in these United States.
This article is a part of a series of articles for Our Weekly's #StopTheHate campaign and is supported in whole or part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library. #NoPlaceForHateCA, #StopAAPIHate, #CaliforniaForAll
