Brewer Center Hosts Community Dialogue on Modern Racial Issues
By Dylan Quigley | Observer Contributor
Image courtesy of MWCC
White Fragility, the title of a book and a term coined by author Robin DiAngelo, is a way of describing the way some white people may feel when confronted about racial problems or injustices. Shelley Nicholson, Director of the Brewer Center for Civic Learning and Community Engagement, knew she had to have a conversation about White Fragility at the Mount when DiAngelo’s book was brought to her by a colleague.
At the White Fragility Dialogue, there were approximately 15-20 people in attendance, with a mix of races and a mix of faculty and students. Nicholson opened up with what “White Fragility” means and at each table a set of questions was put in place that would get the conversation flowing between the people at the tables. Nicholson stated that if the event was referred to as a “conversation on modern racial problems” and DiAngelo’s book was used as a talking point, maybe the turn out would have been better.
Each table discussed different racial struggles in modern society. One table focused on police states and how everyday laws affect people of color differently than white people. Another table discussed how our society is built in a way that benefits the racial divide; this was backed by the fact that we have Black History Month instead of celebrating black history 24/7, like our society does for white history. Afterwards, participants at the tables shared what they talked about and learned.
As an undergraduate, Nicholson did diversity work around campus and learned early on about racial injustices in our societies. She talked about how our society has laws and systems in place that make it very difficult for us to move forward on racial equality. For example, she said that our drug laws have been targeting people of color for decades, and it is no secret that people of color get harsher sentences than white people do.
When asked why she was so willing to listen to the white fragility argument while being a white person herself, she said, “I could have just stepped back and ignored it because racial injustices don’t affect me, but that would be falling right into the category of white fragility.”
Nicholson also agreed that DiAngelo’s book should be a common read in schools and that faculty and staff should have to read it too.
Nicholson said that we should be having conversations on racial injustices as communities, even having the conversations in classrooms to engage the youth more effectively. Nicholson clarified that these conversations are important because the broken systems are not going to change if no one is talking about them.
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