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Teaching Robin DiAngelo’s ‘White Fragility’ Will Get You Sued
The Federalist ^ | July 20, 2020 | Adam Mill

Posted on 07/20/2020 7:51:48 AM PDT by Kaslin

Legions of 'trainers' holding up 'White Fragility' are indoctrinating government agencies, corporate workforces, and schools. People subjected to it have good grounds for a lawsuit.


The eyes of the highly paid trainer fix on your reddening face as she holds the book aloft. Then she reads to you from the sacred text of Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility:

While the idea of color blindness may have started out as a well-intentioned strategy for interrupting racism, in practice it has served to deny the reality of racism and thus hold it in place … Racial bias is largely unconscious, and herein lies the deepest challenge-the defensiveness that ensues upon any suggestion of racial bias. This defensiveness is classic white fragility because it protects our racial bias while simultaneously affirming our identities as open-minded … we can’t change what we refuse to see.

How does one respond to this? Using erudite, academic words, a stranger has just accused you of being an “unconscious” racist. Worst of all, if you try to deny it, that’s just “white fragility” that “obstructs” the fight against racism. Denying you’re a racist is proof that you’re a racist.

Across the country, legions of these types of “trainers” are fanning out to indoctrinate in schools, government agencies, and corporate workforces. After a period of instruction, the trainers organize their students into small groups in which only one topic may be addressed: anecdotes of “racist” thoughts and deeds that reinforce the hypothesis. It’s like a giant group trial in which the accused is allowed to apologize but never allowed to defend herself.

Of course, nobody likes to be called a racist, particularly people who strive not to be one. It’s particularly galling to be assigned this malignant opinion by a stranger who knows nothing about the accused except the color of her skin.

Among the “praise” DiAngelo quotes for her monograph of poison is one describing her work as “a great contribution in promoting the necessary policy change and healing this country requires.” Yet in reality, the opposite is true. Indeed, if dwelling on ethnic grievances promoted peace and understanding, then the Middle East would be the most peaceful place on earth.

Should one suffer in silence as strangers affix the label of “racist” to each white forehead regardless of background or experience? Many people try to brandish their intersectionality credentials to escape the label. Were your ancestors among the 360,000 northern troops who sacrificed their lives for the freedom of African-American slaves? Did your white but Jewish ancestors barely escape the Nazis’ effort to “defend” Germany? Are you related to the white Muslim Bosnians slaughtered to address some ancient historical grievance?

Or are you a patriotic American who is committed to the principles of equal justice under the law? You can try your luck in the victim competition in your small group. But good luck with your tales of anti-Irish discrimination in the 1800s. By leveraging your family history, you’re helping to validate the woke dismantling of equality. Don’t play that game.

Or you can object. Truly, you have the right to object. Strangers do not have a right to assume your opinions based upon the circumstances of your birth. No, we don’t all have “unconscious biases” that make up a greater tapestry of “institutional racism.” That’s an unprovable hypothesis based upon a race-based stereotype.

In your workplace environment, it might not be prudent to speak up. It might cost you your job in an unfavorable labor market. But if you do have the courage to speak up, here is something you might say:

I don’t agree that I have an unconscious bias against people who are different from me. You’re telling me what I think and what I believe. If you want to know what I think, you can ask me. If you want to tell me about your own biases and prejudices, I’ll listen.

But it’s not appropriate for me to tell you what you think. It’s not fair to assign me an opinion about other people. You don’t know me. And I won’t agree to you making assumptions about my beliefs.

If the trainer persists, or you are disciplined for resisting this racial stereotype, file a discrimination complaint with Human Resources. It’s not legal to discriminate against any race or skin color—yes, even Caucasians.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission proudly trumpets its courtroom victories fighting discrimination, including when it occurs against Caucasians. In Kilgore v. Trussville Development, the EEOC successfully sued an employer whose manager repeatedly referenced the victim’s race (Caucasian) stating, “you’re the wrong color,” before firing her.

In 2012, Kauai in Hawaii paid $120,000 to settle a federal charge of racial harassment against a Caucasian woman. Her manager continuously made disparaging remarks about Caucasians, told her to assimilate more into local Hawaiian culture, and leave her Caucasian boyfriend for a local boy who was a “person of color.” In 2011, the EEOC successfully sued Dots, a clothing retailer, that denied employment to Caucasian applicants since early 2007.

HR departments should tread very carefully when selecting training in the current environment. If management pushes training that assigns collective guilt to any race, religion, sex, or ethnicity, it may constitute direct evidence of discriminatory intent in a later lawsuit claiming discrimination.

Training based on the book White Fragility, if sponsored by decision-makers as a mandatory expression of corporate culture, will likely be heavily relied upon by future plaintiffs who suspect they were denied promotions, bonuses, and other opportunities due to their skin color.

Every American is entitled to equal treatment regardless of race. That is still the law — at least for the time being. But rights have a way of disappearing if nobody speaks up.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: collectiveguilt; eeoc; identitypolitics; race; racism; racismtraining; robindiangelo; systemracism; unconsciousbias; whitefragility; whiteguilt
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1 posted on 07/20/2020 7:51:48 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

Sorry, but the EEOC ignores these complaints. They are only interested in complaints from “people of color”. (Such a silly expression)


2 posted on 07/20/2020 7:56:13 AM PDT by Pining_4_TX ("Pluralism is always a temporary state marking a transition from one orthodoxy to another" Schaefer)
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To: Kaslin

As with the Communist Manifesto, Malcom X’s autobiography, or the writings of Mao or Che, being able to quote it, or draw on concepts is quite useful in debate.

Know thine enemy.


3 posted on 07/20/2020 7:58:09 AM PDT by RedStateRocker (Nuke Mecca. Deport all illegals. Abolish the DEA, IRS and ATF,.)
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To: Pining_4_TX

IF the EEOC declines the case, you have a private right of action and can sue personally — and keep the money.


4 posted on 07/20/2020 7:59:37 AM PDT by Jewbacca (The residents of Iroquois territory may not determine whether Jews may live in Jerusalem)
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To: Kaslin

It’s actually an excellent point: what evidence do they have that a given white person has, innately due to being white, discriminatory tendencies?


5 posted on 07/20/2020 8:00:46 AM PDT by Jewbacca (The residents of Iroquois territory may not determine whether Jews may live in Jerusalem)
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To: Kaslin

People who accuse complete strangers of racism are lazy, and that is one thing we can bring up. They are not doing due diligence.


6 posted on 07/20/2020 8:02:29 AM PDT by lurk
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To: Pining_4_TX

“Sorry, but the EEOC ignores these complaints.”

The employers won’t ignore a few hundred lawsuits.

L


7 posted on 07/20/2020 8:08:59 AM PDT by Lurker (Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is.)
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To: Kaslin
If the work in question White Fragility, written by a white woman suggests that whiteness is, in itself, evidence of innate racism, what is the basis for accepting her premises? Aren't they racist in themselves, given these originated in the mind of a white, therefore, racist, author?
8 posted on 07/20/2020 8:10:49 AM PDT by MarDav
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To: Pining_4_TX

File them anyhow. It’s in the statutes. Force the EEOC.


9 posted on 07/20/2020 8:14:31 AM PDT by inchworm (al)
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To: Kaslin

Must be nice to be one of those “trainers.” You get paid a lot. Attendance is compulsory. Students who challenge you get fired. Even if you get lousy ratings at the end you are guaranteed to be called back. You can unleash your inner SOB on the students, and they can’t say or do anything.

Only drawback, is that White/Christian/male/English-speaking/hetero/binary/all-original-parts/ need not apply.


10 posted on 07/20/2020 8:17:39 AM PDT by I want the USA back (BLM is a violent marxist movement designed to overthrow the US constitutional form of government.)
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To: Kaslin

Hostile work environment


11 posted on 07/20/2020 8:18:40 AM PDT by SCalGal (Friends don't let friends donate to H$U$, A$PCA, or PETA.)
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To: inchworm

Well, hope springs eternal. Maybe if there are enough complaints they won’t be able to ignore them.


12 posted on 07/20/2020 8:19:29 AM PDT by Pining_4_TX ("Pluralism is always a temporary state marking a transition from one orthodoxy to another" Schaefer)
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To: Kaslin

Destroy the evil White devils.

They are the source of all evil.

Also, take their money and their homes.

Burning the Constitution is also good, because it was written by evil White devils.

Boooooooooo White people.

#2020

#WesternCivilizationIsBeingDestroyed


13 posted on 07/20/2020 8:19:51 AM PDT by Arcadian Empire
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To: MarDav

Being White is the original sin to the promoters of the current wave.


14 posted on 07/20/2020 8:21:27 AM PDT by Arcadian Empire
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To: Arcadian Empire

And yet, the folks doing the promoting are willing to adopt a book written by a white author as its new gospel.


15 posted on 07/20/2020 8:30:14 AM PDT by MarDav
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To: Kaslin
Every American is entitled to equal treatment regardless of race.

Gotta love it when the tables are turned.

16 posted on 07/20/2020 8:31:21 AM PDT by Tommy Revolts
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To: Kaslin

Woke white liberals are the very definition of white fragility.


17 posted on 07/20/2020 9:07:21 AM PDT by Crim (Palin / West '16)
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To: Pining_4_TX

It doesn’t matter whether the EEOC likes it or not, They must issue you a “Right To Sue Letter” unless the substance of your complaint has nothing to do with Title 7 protections.

The EEOC actually prosecutes a tiny fraction of the cases that are presented to them and generally only cases that have broader implications, like a national chain discriminating against their employees or when dealing with a discrimination complaint on the edges of the law as to set precedent or further establish the legitimacy of a certain type of discrimination complaint.

The EEOC very much likes high profile cases.


18 posted on 07/20/2020 9:12:38 AM PDT by PresidentFelon
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To: Kaslin

“I don’t agree that I have an unconscious bias against people who are different from me.”

I like to think that all of my biases are conscious.

Marko


19 posted on 07/20/2020 9:13:29 AM PDT by markoman (Cautiously pessimistic.)
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To: Kaslin

Great find. Dealing with this right now.


20 posted on 07/20/2020 9:51:48 AM PDT by Blueflag (Res ipsa loquitur: non vehere est inermus)
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