Notion of White Fragility

.....white fragility, which is considered as a state in which the least amount of racial stress becomes intolerable and provokes a series of defensive actions (DiAngelo, 2011). White fragility is based on the fact that white people in North America are protected and insulated from race-based stress by the social environment they live in. Some of the common defensive actions associated with any amount of racial stress include fear, guilt, silence, avoidance of the stressful situation, anger, and arguments.

These defensive actions and behaviors are in turn utilized to reinforce and strengthen white racial equilibrium. Based on these claims, white fragility is seemingly fueled by white supremacy, which has continued to dominate the North American society in the recent past albeit in a subtle way. While there have been numerous to fight racial prejudice and discrimination in North America, white people seemingly believe that their skin color (Whiteness) gives them privilege and status over other races.

Additionally, the society has seemingly established protective resources and benefits that advance and reinforce white supremacy, which is in turn the premise of white fragility. Due to the notion of white supremacy, white people are flimsy to gossip, voyeurism and any other actions that threaten their perceived racial privilege. Apart from perceived white supremacy or superiority, white fragility is also founded on the belief that racism is about good or bad people or moral and immoral actions.

In this case, good people with moral acts cannot be racist, which implies that racism is viewed as what people do or do not do. The good/bad concept in turn becomes the premise for perceived racial privilege and status. White people believe that they are good people who carry out moral actions unlike other races, especially people of color who are perceived as bad people with immoral acts and behaviors. Consequently, white people tend to isolate themselves from these races in order to avoid being bad.

This isolation further fuels the idea of white fragility despite numerous multicultural training in today's society to promote inclusion and diversity in the society and the working environment. An evaluation of some of the arguments provided in this article show that the major factor that fuels white fragility is a deep sense of entitlement. The deep sense of entitlement emerges from white superiority given that white people consider themselves superior to other races, particularly people of color, since birth.

These individuals are born into a racial hierarchy and culture that advances the notion of white superiority. The internal sense of superiority makes white people fragile to racial challenges that seek to challenge their supremacy. Additionally, this internal sense of superiority in turn makes white people to be racially comfortable and to create unchallenged expectations that they hold on to throughout their lives and interactions with others.

Due to this feeling, white people feel entitled to racial comfort and deal with any source of discomfort through isolation, penalization, exclusion, and retaliation (DiAngelo, 2011). The numerous efforts towards the development of a multicultural society and dealing with racial discrimination and prejudice need.