On White Fragility - Paul Scannell

Sifting through ‘White Fragility’, a New York Times best seller, designed to help white people rid themselves of the evils of their epidermises, it occurred to me that a very important word is being rendered useless. Racism, once the ugliest act of judgement, control or abuse based on a person’s  ethnicity, now seemingly takes on a vague, mystical quality impossible to fully pin down - unless of course you are the book’s author, Robin Di Angelo. Over 192 pages the self-ascribed racism whisperer requests that white people enter into a life-long second-guessing of their racial failings, whether they exist or not. Through numerous baseless claims, it demonises colour blindness, suggests every conceivable interaction is racially driven and drops such clangers as ‘racism cannot be absent from your friendships’. In attempting to place people who dare disagree with her methods on the angry racist step, she plays a toxic game of gas-lighting. This book presents its author as a woman who panics at the thought of attending a black gathering and who admits her surprise that a black man has risen to the role of headmaster; a woman so subservient to racial difference, it verges on kink. By Chapter three I was indeed feeling fragile - but perhaps not for the reasons Ms Di Angelo was intending.

Since the killing of George Floyd and the ensuing proliferation of race-related headlines in the UK media, any reasonable person might have asked themselves ‘is Britain racist’?  An examination of the data paints a ghoulishly complex picture too varied for simplistic labels. Yet somehow the debate swings madly from those who deny racism exists entirely to those currently arguing that 2+2=4 ‘reeks of white supremacy’. The importing of the kookiest elements of critical race theory from the US is not helping us discuss this essential issue with nuance. Paradoxically Britain sees its Asian and Chinese students excelling above all others in education and earning capacity whilst black graduates linger at up to 23% less than their white counterparts. Both our chancellor and home secretary are of Indian heritage yet we have only six ethnic minority CEO’s in the FTSE 100. Innocent black men suffer the indignity of unfair stop and search policies yet are up to twice as likely to go to university as white working class men. These, and other wildly conflicting data, indicate inspiring progress, unacceptable disparities and proof that neither extreme of left or right offers a fair picture. 

To approach this thorny topic, as a white man, requires humility. But where is one left when they fear the tide is flowing away from social cohesion?  Systems of thought that encourage an endlessly tabulated world of recrimination, guilt and blame merely reinforce what divides us, not what unites us. Thankfully there is a growing number of thinkers and academics from black communities questioning whether this curious trajectory can tackle issues of policing, crime and poor educational attainment. The inaugural debate of the Equiano project reassured me that opposing elements of critical race theory does not indeed confirm my inner-Hitler. By encouraging a defence of liberalism, its speakers pushed back against tribal group-think and lofty psychobabble. It was an open, honest exchange, a million miles from the boxes books like ‘White Fragility’ seek to trap us in.  As for our racial clairvoyant, the woke witch of whiteness, does Di Angelo redeem herself at all? To be fair, the book gave me pause in parts. Some damning statistics speak for themselves. But these moments of sincere resonance were never left to settle. Even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day. Unless, that is, you believe 2+2=5.

Paul Scannell