Is this inappropriate-school district requiring teachers to read White Fragility?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The "book" is basically

white people are always racist

black people can't be racist ever

Yep. That is the summary.

Which is a shame. In contrast my organization has had some short Virtual trainings that a corporate diversity trainer does and they are VERY well done. She is relatable, uses more neutral language (everyone needs to “X” vs just “White people need to...”). And definitely comes at it from a sense that seems to convey “hey we are all good faith and nice people here, but sometimes we do some hurtful things accidentally without realizing it. Let me tell you about what some of those are to help make it easier to avoid those unintended slip ups”.

PP. Can you please think for a moment about the irony of what you have posted here. Basically saying that, as a white person, you need to hear about your racism in more gentle, polite terms. That sounds a bit like....white...fragility....does it not?

I'm white, and have not read the book, but reading something that calls me racist does not automatically make me hurt and defensive. It sounds important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The "book" is basically

white people are always racist

black people can't be racist ever

Yep. That is the summary.

Which is a shame. In contrast my organization has had some short Virtual trainings that a corporate diversity trainer does and they are VERY well done. She is relatable, uses more neutral language (everyone needs to “X” vs just “White people need to...”). And definitely comes at it from a sense that seems to convey “hey we are all good faith and nice people here, but sometimes we do some hurtful things accidentally without realizing it. Let me tell you about what some of those are to help make it easier to avoid those unintended slip ups”.

+2 The bolded is basically what my (black) son stated when he handed me (white mom) the book to read. You don't really need to know any more than that. Buy the book, open it a few times and bend some pages so it looks like you've read it, and then nod, nod, nod in meetings where the book is discussed. Say as many mea culpas as appropriate.

I agree with another poster that the backlash from all of this is going to be intense. Not just whites but Hispanics, Asians, Jewish, you name it.

Oh your poor son.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The "book" is basically

white people are always racist

black people can't be racist ever

Yep. That is the summary.

Which is a shame. In contrast my organization has had some short Virtual trainings that a corporate diversity trainer does and they are VERY well done. She is relatable, uses more neutral language (everyone needs to “X” vs just “White people need to...”). And definitely comes at it from a sense that seems to convey “hey we are all good faith and nice people here, but sometimes we do some hurtful things accidentally without realizing it. Let me tell you about what some of those are to help make it easier to avoid those unintended slip ups”.

PP. Can you please think for a moment about the irony of what you have posted here. Basically saying that, as a white person, you need to hear about your racism in more gentle, polite terms. That sounds a bit like....white...fragility....does it not?

I'm white, and have not read the book, but reading something that calls me racist does not automatically make me hurt and defensive. It sounds important.

What about requiring Koreans to read something that calls them racists? Or Indians? Or Arabs? Who gets to decide that it's such a given that all White people are racists and therefore it shouldn't ruffle any feathers to require them to read a book saying such?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The "book" is basically

white people are always racist

black people can't be racist ever

Yep. That is the summary.

Which is a shame. In contrast my organization has had some short Virtual trainings that a corporate diversity trainer does and they are VERY well done. She is relatable, uses more neutral language (everyone needs to “X” vs just “White people need to...”). And definitely comes at it from a sense that seems to convey “hey we are all good faith and nice people here, but sometimes we do some hurtful things accidentally without realizing it. Let me tell you about what some of those are to help make it easier to avoid those unintended slip ups”.

PP. Can you please think for a moment about the irony of what you have posted here. Basically saying that, as a white person, you need to hear about your racism in more gentle, polite terms. That sounds a bit like....white...fragility....does it not?

I'm white, and have not read the book, but reading something that calls me racist does not automatically make me hurt and defensive. It sounds important.

Because I disagree that it is racism. I do not believe - nor do I think the vast majority of whites people do - that POC are inferior. But I absolutely admit that I have unconscious bias and am open to learning about how not to offend people I do not intend to offend. The premise you start from matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The "book" is basically

white people are always racist

black people can't be racist ever

Yep. That is the summary.

Which is a shame. In contrast my organization has had some short Virtual trainings that a corporate diversity trainer does and they are VERY well done. She is relatable, uses more neutral language (everyone needs to “X” vs just “White people need to...”). And definitely comes at it from a sense that seems to convey “hey we are all good faith and nice people here, but sometimes we do some hurtful things accidentally without realizing it. Let me tell you about what some of those are to help make it easier to avoid those unintended slip ups”.

PP. Can you please think for a moment about the irony of what you have posted here. Basically saying that, as a white person, you need to hear about your racism in more gentle, polite terms. That sounds a bit like....white...fragility....does it not?

I'm white, and have not read the book, but reading something that calls me racist does not automatically make me hurt and defensive. It sounds important.

Because I disagree that it is racism. I do not believe - nor do I think the vast majority of whites people do - that POC are inferior. But I absolutely admit that I have unconscious bias and am open to learning about how not to offend people I do not intend to offend. The premise you start from matters.

Everyone has unconscious bias. So why single out white people on this, when everyone else has an unconscious bias as well?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The "book" is basically

white people are always racist

black people can't be racist ever

Yep. That is the summary.

Which is a shame. In contrast my organization has had some short Virtual trainings that a corporate diversity trainer does and they are VERY well done. She is relatable, uses more neutral language (everyone needs to “X” vs just “White people need to...”). And definitely comes at it from a sense that seems to convey “hey we are all good faith and nice people here, but sometimes we do some hurtful things accidentally without realizing it. Let me tell you about what some of those are to help make it easier to avoid those unintended slip ups”.

PP. Can you please think for a moment about the irony of what you have posted here. Basically saying that, as a white person, you need to hear about your racism in more gentle, polite terms. That sounds a bit like....white...fragility....does it not?

I'm white, and have not read the book, but reading something that calls me racist does not automatically make me hurt and defensive. It sounds important.

Because I disagree that it is racism. I do not believe - nor do I think the vast majority of whites people do - that POC are inferior. But I absolutely admit that I have unconscious bias and am open to learning about how not to offend people I do not intend to offend. The premise you start from matters.

Everyone has unconscious bias. So why single out white people on this, when everyone else has an unconscious bias as well?

Agree. That is why the great diversity trainer I mentioned above does not approach her training as being just about what white people need to do/learn.

[Anonymous]

I think what bothers me about this is that there is absolutely no way the district would require us to have a discussion about a book titled Asian Fragility. And I don’t think the division should automatically be taking the position that it’s such a given that all white people are racist, that it’s ok to read a book with that title, but not a book that had that title regarding another group.

[Anonymous]

Since it’s prince William, wait until the facilitator mentions the premise of the book, then file away https://www.pwcs.edu/cms/One.aspx?portalId=340225&pageId=738290

[Anonymous]

Why does everyone freak out so much about being referred to as racist? I'm a white person and I seriously don't get this. There is so much "OMG this book is offensive because it says I'm racist" or "OMG that person suggested that I'm racist just because I'm white, how dare they?"

Seriously, what's the big deal? We all pick up a ton of racism just from living in a society that had racism baked in for centuries, and so virtually all white people are racist to some degree or another. Pointing out that you're probably racist is just saying, "Hey, you're probably contributing in some way to making life harder for people of color, and almost all other white people are too. Can you please pay some attention to how that's happening and try to improve?" It seems like the reaction should be, "Whoa, that sucks for people of color. You're right, it seems important for me to do my best to look out for and improve on the ways I've picked up racism so I cause less harm to people of color."

Where does this "how dare anyone suggest I'm racist?" reaction come from? Why do you care that people think you're racist-- do you think they're accusing you of being a terrible person or part of the KKK or something? What's so controversial about the assertion that all or almost all white people are racist? Do you get this freaked out when people point out other kinds of commonly-held biases in society, like sexism or ableism or the way that people tend to value conventionally attractive people over less attractive people?

(I realize it is ironic to be raising this on this thread because I gather that the book in question would give me some more insight on this question of why y'all are so terrified of/furious about anyone calling you racist, but I am curious to hear it from your own mouths...)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why does everyone freak out so much about being referred to as racist? I'm a white person and I seriously don't get this. There is so much "OMG this book is offensive because it says I'm racist" or "OMG that person suggested that I'm racist just because I'm white, how dare they?"

Seriously, what's the big deal? We all pick up a ton of racism just from living in a society that had racism baked in for centuries, and so virtually all white people are racist to some degree or another. Pointing out that you're probably racist is just saying, "Hey, you're probably contributing in some way to making life harder for people of color, and almost all other white people are too. Can you please pay some attention to how that's happening and try to improve?" It seems like the reaction should be, "Whoa, that sucks for people of color. You're right, it seems important for me to do my best to look out for and improve on the ways I've picked up racism so I cause less harm to people of color."

Where does this "how dare anyone suggest I'm racist?" reaction come from? Why do you care that people think you're racist-- do you think they're accusing you of being a terrible person or part of the KKK or something? What's so controversial about the assertion that all or almost all white people are racist? Do you get this freaked out when people point out other kinds of commonly-held biases in society, like sexism or ableism or the way that people tend to value conventionally attractive people over less attractive people?

(I realize it is ironic to be raising this on this thread because I gather that the book in question would give me some more insight on this question of why y'all are so terrified of/furious about anyone calling you racist, but I am curious to hear it from your own mouths...)

How is it helpful? Being called a racist suggests that you willfully believe others are less than you just because of the color of their skin. This effort to redefine it to also mean the unintentional biases that we absorb from living in our society takes none of the sting out of that term.

Do people throwing “racist” around want to help drive constructive change or just to lord others’ unintended mistakes/missteps over them. Kind of seems like the latter from your PP. If we instead focus on HOW to best drive change we’d be using an approach that does not try to intentionally offend the people you are coaxing you change right off the bat.

[Anonymous]

I don’t have a problem with it, school books for the last 400 years have focused on black fragility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The "book" is basically

white people are always racist

black people can't be racist ever

Yep. That is the summary.

Which is a shame. In contrast my organization has had some short Virtual trainings that a corporate diversity trainer does and they are VERY well done. She is relatable, uses more neutral language (everyone needs to “X” vs just “White people need to...”). And definitely comes at it from a sense that seems to convey “hey we are all good faith and nice people here, but sometimes we do some hurtful things accidentally without realizing it. Let me tell you about what some of those are to help make it easier to avoid those unintended slip ups”.

PP. Can you please think for a moment about the irony of what you have posted here. Basically saying that, as a white person, you need to hear about your racism in more gentle, polite terms. That sounds a bit like....white...fragility....does it not?

I'm white, and have not read the book, but reading something that calls me racist does not automatically make me hurt and defensive. It sounds important.

Because I disagree that it is racism. I do not believe - nor do I think the vast majority of whites people do - that POC are inferior. But I absolutely admit that I have unconscious bias and am open to learning about how not to offend people I do not intend to offend. The premise you start from matters.

You are racist assuming all white people are racist.

[Anonymous]

lol I can't believe you idiots are actually trying to defend this book

If the book said all black people are racist

and white people can't be racist

would you tolerate that,,, no.... so how the f can you tolerate it in reverse

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The "book" is basically

white people are always racist

black people can't be racist ever

Yep. That is the summary.

Which is a shame. In contrast my organization has had some short Virtual trainings that a corporate diversity trainer does and they are VERY well done. She is relatable, uses more neutral language (everyone needs to “X” vs just “White people need to...”). And definitely comes at it from a sense that seems to convey “hey we are all good faith and nice people here, but sometimes we do some hurtful things accidentally without realizing it. Let me tell you about what some of those are to help make it easier to avoid those unintended slip ups”.

PP. Can you please think for a moment about the irony of what you have posted here. Basically saying that, as a white person, you need to hear about your racism in more gentle, polite terms. That sounds a bit like....white...fragility....does it not?

I'm white, and have not read the book, but reading something that calls me racist does not automatically make me hurt and defensive. It sounds important.

Because I disagree that it is racism. I do not believe - nor do I think the vast majority of whites people do - that POC are inferior. But I absolutely admit that I have unconscious bias and am open to learning about how not to offend people I do not intend to offend. The premise you start from matters.

Everyone has unconscious bias. So why single out white people on this, when everyone else has an unconscious bias as well?

Haha haha. Excellent point. Hahahaha.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:lol I can't believe you idiots are actually trying to defend this book

If the book said all black people are racist

and white people can't be racist

would you tolerate that,,, no.... so how the f can you tolerate it in reverse

This is why there have millions of flags sold this month: TRUMP 2020. Stop the Bullshit.

I see then around - on homes, on boats, on cycles, on cars. I see Biden signs too, but the new trump flag. If this BS keeps up their will be a big wake up call.