Finally, the teachers used this interaction as an opportunity to increase racial divides rather than bridge them and to protect their worldviews and positions.

With race as a nonissue, I can focus on my work and productivity and be seen as a team player.

The language of violence that many whites use to describe antiracist endeavors is not without significance, as it

If, however, I understand racism as a system into which I was socialized, I can receive feedback on my problematic racial patterns as a helpful way to support my learning and growth. One of the greatest social fears for a white person is being told that something that we have said or done is racially problematic.

Though white fragility is triggered by discomfort and anxiety, it is born of superiority and entitlement. White fragility is not weakness per se. In fact, it is a powerful means of white racial control and the protection of white advantage.

Multiracial people may not be seen as “real” people of color or “real” whites. (It is worth noting that though the term “passing” refers to the ability to blend in as a white person, there is no corresponding term for the ability to pass as a person of color. This highlights the fact that, in a racist society, the desired direction is always toward

Suggesting that a white person’s viewpoint comes from a racialized frame of reference (challenge to objectivity) • People of color talking directly about their own racial perspectives (challenge to white taboos on talking openly about race) • People of color choosing not to protect white people’s feelings about race (challenge to white racial

I have discussed several reasons why whites are so defensive about the suggestion that we benefit from, and are complicit in, a racist system: • Social taboos against talking openly about race • The racist = bad / not racist = good binary

While women could be prejudiced and discriminate against men in individual interactions, women as a group could not deny men their civil rights.