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A review by anna_pearl
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
4.0
First of all, I don't have a lot of experience reading and evaluating this kind of book, so if you're looking for a super in-depth review from someone who knows what they're doing, look elsewhere. What I can give, however, are my personal thoughts and feelings on what this book discussed, but for an intro: I am a white female living in Continental America. I can't remember the last time I've been around a BIPOC person.
This book allowed me to recognize what I might've done before, had someone called me racist. It emphasizes how as whites, our "instinct" is to recoil and defend ourselves because of course we weren't being racist. We don't "see color" or whatever else we want to say. The truth is that without knowing the implication or background of many of these sayings, we can dig our pit even deeper and end up being more racist without even meaning to be.
Robin DiAngelo addresses many of these things in her book, all of which I've learned from in many ways, shapes, and forms. I believe this book is very important for people to read, especially those who want to know more about racism and how they can try to avoid it. DiAngelo also addresses how we can try to move forward with this new knowledge and really implement it in our daily lives.
I think this book could be a solid 4- or 4.5-star book, but not quite a 5-star book. The reason for this being... well, I didn't quite love it. It taught me a lot, yes. It was well-written as well, but there wasn't any sort of gripping factor in this book. There was only an obligation to read this that got me through. And that always costs points in my book. The personal stories helped this out a ton by really entertaining me while illustrating the point, but I believe more of those could've been included to make it more enjoyable as well as instructional. That's just my opinion, though. I'm always looking to make learning fun and perhaps in that, I'm overstepping boundaries here.
Overall, I am glad I read this book and I'm looking forward to reading some of the books the author recommended in the back of this book.
This book allowed me to recognize what I might've done before, had someone called me racist. It emphasizes how as whites, our "instinct" is to recoil and defend ourselves because of course we weren't being racist. We don't "see color" or whatever else we want to say. The truth is that without knowing the implication or background of many of these sayings, we can dig our pit even deeper and end up being more racist without even meaning to be.
Robin DiAngelo addresses many of these things in her book, all of which I've learned from in many ways, shapes, and forms. I believe this book is very important for people to read, especially those who want to know more about racism and how they can try to avoid it. DiAngelo also addresses how we can try to move forward with this new knowledge and really implement it in our daily lives.
I think this book could be a solid 4- or 4.5-star book, but not quite a 5-star book. The reason for this being... well, I didn't quite love it. It taught me a lot, yes. It was well-written as well, but there wasn't any sort of gripping factor in this book. There was only an obligation to read this that got me through. And that always costs points in my book. The personal stories helped this out a ton by really entertaining me while illustrating the point, but I believe more of those could've been included to make it more enjoyable as well as instructional. That's just my opinion, though. I'm always looking to make learning fun and perhaps in that, I'm overstepping boundaries here.
Overall, I am glad I read this book and I'm looking forward to reading some of the books the author recommended in the back of this book.