NICENESS IS NOT COURAGEOUS : how well-meaning white progressives maintain racism

Building on the groundwork laid in the New York Times bestseller White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo explores how a culture of niceness inadvertently promotes racism.In White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo explained how racism is a system into which all white people are socialized, and challenged the belief that racism is a simple matter of good people versus bad. DiAngelo also made a provocative claim: white progressives cause the most daily harm to people of color. In Nice Racism, her follow-up work, she explains how they do so. Drawing on her background as a sociologist and over 25 years working as an anti-racist educator, she picks up where White Fragility left off and moves the conversation forward. Writing directly to white people as a white person, DiAngelo identifies many common white racial patterns and breaks down how well-intentioned white people unknowingly perpetuate racial harm. Title Page About the Author Dedication Introduction 1 What Is a Nice Racist? 2 Why It’s OK to Generalize About White People 3 There Is No Choir 4 What’s Wrong with Niceness? 5 The Moves of White Progressives 6 Spiritual, Not Religious 7 Let’s Talk About Shame 8 What About My Trauma? 9 We Aren’t Actually That Nice 10 How White People Who Experience Other Oppressions Can Still Be Racist, or “But I’m a Minority Myself!” 11 How Do You Make a White Progressive a Better Racist? 12 Niceness Is Not Courageous: How to Align Your Professed Values with Your Actual Practice Study Guide Acknowledgments Notes Copyright DiAngelo identifies racial patterns and breaks down how well-intentioned white people unknowingly perpetuate racial harm. These patterns include rushing to prove that we are 'not racist'; downplaying white advantage; romanticizing Black, Indigenous and other peoples of colour; pretending white segregation 'just happens'; expecting BIPOC people to teach us about racism; carefulness; and shame