White Fragility: A Racist Rant Not Worth Reading

A white academic has penned a scathing treatise on white racism.  Her book, White Fragility, accuses all Caucasians of being racist, even if they believe they are progressive.  The author eschews data or surveys to document her allegations.  You must take her word for the charge or be scorned.

Robin DiAngelo, currently an Affiliate Associate Professor of Education at the University of Washington, published her book in 2018.  Sales skyrocketed, landing her book on the New York Times bestseller list. Its publication was greeted with fawning critical reviews in the lackey media.

The author's thesis, summed up in The New Yorker, is that America stands on racist beliefs.  Such ideologies as individualism, the American Dream, choosing one's destiny and objectivity reflect the racist bias of Caucasians.  Ms. DiAngelo's conclusion is whites who embrace these ideals are racists.

In her view, whites have "counterproductive" reactions when their assumptions about race are challenged.  Those reactions prevent whites from acknowledging that racial inequality exists in the country.  On the other hand, people of color get a prejudicial pass from Ms. DiAngelo.

"People of color may also hold prejudices and discriminate against white people, but they lack the social and institutional power that transforms their prejudice and discrimination into racism; the impact of their prejudice on whites is temporary and contextual," she writes in her book. 

Ms. DiAngelo reserves special derision for white males, a breed of Homo Sapiens she finds sneeringly heinous.  From her book:

"For most of our history, straight white men have been involved in a witness protection program that guards their identities and absolves them of their crimes while offering them a future free of past encumbrances and sins."  White men represent all that is wrong with America, she claims.

The words on the pages of her book are filled with disgust even for those men who helped right wrongs.  "...Although we are taught that women were granted suffrage in 1920, we ignore that it was white women who received full access or that it was white men who granted it."

The author, who has spent many years writing and lecturing about white racism, claims Caucasians lack of understanding about "implicit bias leads to aversive racism." Translation: Whites are conditioned to be racists, no matter their experiences or personal beliefs.

Missing from her 192-page book are any facts, data, scientific studies to document her litany of white transgressions.  Ms. DiAngelo is the sole authority because she is after all, white.  She is better equipped than an African-American or anyone else to indict Caucasians based on her own biases. 

This kind of intellectual fraud has now become the definitive narrative on white racism. Sincere white people who purchased her book in hopes of valuable insight into race-related issues have been duped. Ms. DiAngelo sees herself as an evangelist who has founded a new religion based on white guilt.

I grew up in the grips of racism in the South.  I know what it looks and sounds like.  On the other hand, Ms. DiAngelo never set foot in the South.  Her views are informed by her prejudices. Apparently, she never bothered reading research studies that lampoon her own theories.

In 2019, Pew Research published the results of a seminal study on race relations.  The findings show that whites and blacks agree the country harbors racist views. Majorities of whites acknowledge racism endures, debunking Ms. DiAngelo's simplistic theme that Caucasians ignore its existence.

One of the illuminating findings in the Pew study is that African-Americans are overwhelming more likely to see their race or ethnicity as central to their identity.  Only 15% of whites identify themselves by the color of their skin. Irrefutably, your identity informs your viewpoint.

Research, however, has no place in Ms. DiAngelo's narrow world view of racism.  In her own words: "All white people are invested in and collude with racism. The white collective fundamentally hates blackness for what it reminds us of...We are capable and guilty of perpetrating immeasurable harm."

Each page oozes with adherence to identity politics, a central theme.  She makes no attempt to hide it, admitting that her book is "unapologetically rooted in identity politics."  Her unique insight comes from her ability to speak as "an insider" because she is white.  Huh?

This is nothing more dishonest than indicting an entire group of people--white, black, brown--using stereotypes.  Imagine authoring a book with no research based on the premise that all African-Americans are criminals because you've seen blacks in prison.  It would be rightfully condemned.

Ms. DiAngelo spent her early years as a tenured professor of multicultural education at Westfield State University. Teaching multiculturalism has become trendy at state supported colleges.  Universities gain cache with the liberal establishment, which aids fundraising.

Apparently that experience burnished her credentials as an expert on race. But her words belie credible scholarship.  For example, she writes the following as evidence that all white people cling to deep seated feelings of superiority.

"White people raised in Western society are conditioned in a white supremacist worldview because it is the bedrock of our society and institutions."  She continues, "Even if you have people of color in your workplace or family, the ubiquitous socializing power of white supremacy cannot be avoided."

As the pages drone on, she concludes even righteous whites are not fooling African-Americans. "We do have them (racist views) and people of color already know we have them; our efforts to prove otherwise are not convincing."

Her thesis not only indicts whites as racist, but concludes African-Americans are equally prejudiced against well meaning whites.  It is an impeachment of both races.  My conclusion is Ms. DiAngelo herself is a narcissistic, self-loathing, bigot and her book belongs in a dumpster.

But don't take my word.  Here is Ward Connerly writing on the op-ed pages of The Wall Street Journal:    

"The claim that America is "systematically racist" is a false narrative that fuels racial paranoia, division and hatred.  If we can identify specific institutions or people within them that are racist, we should confront them.  If not, it doesn't serve us well to allow a false presumption of guilt to guide our conduct."

Who is Mr. Connerly?  A Trump supporter? A white supremacist?  Hardly.  Mr. Connerly is an African American from California, whose grandfather was born a slave and whose father lived through the Jim Crow era.  He currently is president of Californians for Equal Rights.

Mr. Connerly's views are much more informed than some cloistered academic. 

Media Shame: Savage Attacks on Catholic Teens

Wearing a red hat in America has been demonized by the news media and those who hate the president.  A small group of teens recently discovered the depth of this loathing . They were mocked, taunted and verbally assaulted for the crime of donning Make America Great Again hats.

For their grievous sin, these students from a Kentucky Catholic high school have endured media smears, death threats and character assassination.  The media fueled furor over the incident at the national March for Life forced the school to shutter its doors for fear of violence against its students.

How could this happen in America?  The blame rests squarely on the stoop shouldered news media. Journalists, a misnomer if there ever was one, jumped to conclusions based on their own biases and spread a false narrative about an incident involving the school kids, endangering their lives.

A small group of Covington Catholic High School youngsters were peacefully leaving the pro-life rally in Washington, D.C when a handful of black Hebrew Israelites and left-wing activists hurled insults at the students.  In response, the students sang their school song, refusing the hateful bait.

Then a self-appointed Native American activist entered the fray, banging a drum and confronting one of the students.  To his credit, the student only smiled without uttering a word.  Within minutes, a video appeared on social media that exploded into bombastic news coverage by the media.

America's media, its reputation for fairness long ago shredded, based its reporting mostly on a snippet of video and the comments of Native American Nathan Phillips, who claimed to be a a Vietnam War veteran. News commentators inflamed passions by hastily condemning the kids.

Television reporters denounced the youngsters as bigots.  Journalists called them "privileged" white elitists.  Hollywood actors suggested they kids should be hunted down and punched in the face.  Some on social media called for the youngsters to be killed.

Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar, an anti-Semite serving her first term in the U.S. Congress, tweeted: "The boys were protesting a woman's right to choose & yelled, "It's not rape if you enjoy it." They were taunting 5 Black men before they surrounded Phillips and led racist chants."

NBC called the incident "a troubling scene many are calling racist played out in Washington."  CNN, the network no one should trust, described the scene as a "mob of MAGA hat-wearing high school students." An MSNBC news panelist compared the students to neo-Nazis.

USA Today featured an interview with Phillips, who belittled the youngsters as "beastly" and having a "mob mentality." The New York Times labeled the teenagers "racists" for mocking a veteran.  The Washington Post lambasted the Catholic Church's sordid history of Native American abuses.

These choir boy-faced high school youths overnight became the most hated figures in America.  Then the media story began to unravel.  As more video surfaced of the incident near the Lincoln Memorial, it became obvious the teenagers were passive bystanders, not the aggressors.

No video evidence exists showing the kids shouting anything racist or mentioning rape.  The adult sponsors accompanying the youngsters publicly discredited the media's version.  A youth wearing the MAGA hat was interviewed and refuted the remarks that the activists claimed he made.

Why didn't the news media interview the sponsors and the youngsters before they rushed to judgment?  The answer is obvious.  There were not interested in the truth.  They wanted to advance the narrative of MAGA hats being a symbol of bigotry.  Their hatred for Trump was bared. 

The Native American Philips was unmasked as a career provocateur who regularly shows up a protests, representing himself.  He is not an Vietnam veteran as he claims.  He served in the Marine Reserves, spending most of his time in sunny California instead of the steamy jungles of Vietnam.

A day after the confrontation Phillips disrupted mass at Washington's Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, beating his drum and marching down the aisles.  Phillips is a trouble maker not a peacemaker.  He is a charlatan.  His real name is Nathaniel R. Stanard.

As the truth emerged, some media outlets tried to walk back the story in an attempt to salvage their tattered reputations.  But too many newsrooms decided to just let the story fade away rather than apologizing to the school and the teenagers they ran roughshod over.

Beside the obvious malicious reporting, there are two recurring themes this incident illuminates.  The first is the media has abandoned all pretense of being unbiased.  Journalists are out to tarnish the president even if a falsehood has to be dressed up as legitimate news.  It is shameful and indefensible.

The second is a virulent strain of anti-Catholicism is rising in the country.  These youngsters were singled out because of their religion as much as for their alleged behavior.  This bigoted religious bias also reared its ugly head during the confirmation of Justice Gorsuch and other Catholic judges.

The Covington Catholic High School recently reopened its doors to students.  But the fallout from the media coverage of the pro-life rally will haunt these youngsters for the remainder of their lives. They have been permanently tarnished as extremists and racists.  The stain will linger.

Meanwhile, the media will turn its attention to the next scandal, unconcerned about the damage its erroneous reporting inflicted on innocent young people.  Polling shows Americans' trust in the media has sunk to an all-time low.  In the current environment, it is a race to rock bottom.