WFQ1

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Mt San Antonio College *

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Philosophy

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Oct 30, 2023

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_____________________________ White Fragility Quiz1 (“Introduction” -Chapter 2) Directions: Respond to each question and make sure to find quotes to support the claims you make within those responses. 1. What is Di Angelo’s key idea in her “Author’s Note” regarding identity politics and how does it relate to the term “passing”? It relates to the term “passing” because, in a racist society, the desired direction is always toward whiteness and away from being perceived as a person of color. (20) 2. How does she explain “white fragility” within the “Introduction,” and what are the “pillars of “whiteness” she identifies? I could see how we are taught to think about racism only as discrete acts committed by individual people rather than as a complex, interconnected " (24) 3. Why does she claim white people lack context to discuss racism? "One of the greatest social fears for a white person is being told that something that we have said or done is racially problematic. Yet when someone lets us know that we have just done such a thing, rather than respond with gratitude and relief (after all, now that we are informed, we won't do it again), we often respond with anger and denial.” (25) 4. What does she point out about individualism and objectivity? "We make sense of perceptions and experiences through our particular cultural lens. This lens is neither universal nor objective, and without it, a person could not function in any human society. However, exploring these cultural frameworks can be particularly challenging in Western culture precisely because of two key Western ideologies: individualism and objectivity. Briefly, individualism holds that we are each unique and stand apart from others, even those within our social groups. Objectivity tells us that it is possible to be free of all bias. These ideologies make it very difficult for white people to explore the collective aspect of the white experience.e" (29) 5. Looking at “Social Construct of Race in the U.S.” and “The Perception of Race,” what key ideas standout? "The idea of racial inferiority was created to justify unequal treatment; belief in racial inferiority is not what triggered unequal treatment." (35) "To have citizenship— and the rights citizenship imbued as—you had to be legally class white." (36)

6. How does she distinguish between prejudice, discrimination, and racism? Prejudice consists of thoughts and feelings, including stereotypes, attitudes, and generalizations that are based on little or no experience and then are projected on everyone from that group. Our prejudices tend to be shared because we swim in the same cultural water and absorb the same message" (37-38) 7. Explain the “birdcage” analogy. "The birdcage metaphor helps us understand why racism can be so hard to see and recognize: we have a limited view. Without recognizing how our position in relation to the bird defines how much of the cage we can see, we rely on single situations, exceptions, and anecdotal evidence for our understanding, rather than on broader, interlocking patterns. Although there are always exceptions, the patterns are consistent and well documented: People of color are confined and shaped by forces and barriers that are not accidental, occasional, or avoidable. These forces are systematically related to each other in ways that restrict their movement." (41) 8. What does she mean when she writes that “whiteness as property” ( ) and that it provides “privilege” ( ) to people who identify as white? "Whiteness rests upon a foundational premise: the definition of whites as the norm or standard for humans, and people of color as a deviation from that norm. Whiteness is not acknowledged by white people, and the white reference point is assumed to be universal and is imposed on everyone. White people find it very difficult to think about whiteness as a specific state of being that could have an impact on one's life and perceptions. " (43) 9. In the section “White Supremacy” (28-33), what are the key points? "White supremacy in this context does not refer to individual white people and their individual intentions or actions but to an overarching political, economic, and social system of domination. Again, racism is a structure, not an event. While hate groups that openly proclaim white superiority do exist, and this term refers to them also, the consciousness solely associates white supremacy with these radical groups. This reductive definition obscures the reality of the larger system at work and prevents us from addressing this system." (46) 10. In “The White Racial Frame” (34-38), what are the key points? "At the most general level, the racial frame views whites as superior in culture and achievement and views people of color as generally of less social, economic, and political consequence; people of color are seen as inferior to whites in the making and keeping of the nation. At the next level of framing, because social institutions (education, medicine, law, government, finance, and the military) are controlled by whites, white dominance is unremarkable and taken for granted. That whites are disproportionately enriched and privileged via these institutions is also taken for granted; we are entitled to more privileges and resources because we are "better" people." (51)

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