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SYSTEMIC RACISM
How White Fragility is Keeping Us Trapped in a Maze of Inequality
Confronting the colorblind barriers to progress
Progress for Black Americans is not a straight line. It’s a maze we’re traveling through with many twists and turns, thorny obstacles, and dead-ends. Case in point, it took the nation more than a hundred years and two hundred failed attempts by lawmakers to pass anti-lynching legislation. As a result, change is a multigenerational effort. That is something we should keep in mind as many states introduce and pass legislation designed to appease white fragility while at the same time diminishing protections designed to safeguard Black people and racial minorities. In doing so, society seems to be turning its back on the gains made and lessons learned throughout the civil rights era and leaving us trapped in a labyrinth of their design.
In this case, white fragility refers to the propensity of White people to react defensively and or dismissively to evidence of racism. Of course, Black people are very familiar with this type of response, as it is common in online forums, social network platforms, schools, and the workplace. Whenever a Black person describes their experiences with racism, the colorblind gaslighting is quick to follow—questioning whether they really experienced racism…
