White fragility and emotion regulation
A recent article in American Psychologist by Ford, Green, & Gross (2022) is titled “White fragility: An emotion regulation perspective.” They begin by pointing to the need for systemic change if we want to eliminate anti-Black racism, but acknowledging the challenge when White people, “disproportionately occupy ‘gatekeeping’ positions of power.” They make a conceptual argument that:
one key barrier to systemic change is rooted in White individuals’ emotional (and emotion-regulatory) responses when considering their own role in racism (e.g., involvement in racist systems, biased actions). White people often experience such moments as a jeopardy to their valued goals and are consequently highly motivated to reduce the negative emotions that they feel by denying or avoiding the issue—a multifaceted response known as a White fragility response. When White individuals enact a White fragility response, they can further damage the well-being of Black members of their community and weaken their own motivation for systemic change. Given its stark costs, it is critical to understand White fragility responses. In this article, we argue that White fragility can be usefully viewed through the lens of emotion and emotion regulation theory. In particular, we describe the emotion and emotion regulation responses that characterize White fragility, summarize the wide-ranging consequences of White fragility responses, highlight more sustainable ways forward, and end by considering a broader fragility framework that acknowledges multiple dimensions of power.
Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism (2018) has led to a lot of conversation about the phenomenon. DiAngelo was a diversity trainer who got tired of hearing the rationalizations that many White people use to deny being racist. What I like about the approach by Ford et al. is that it forces us to move beyond cognitive defenses to more closely examine the powerful role of emotional regulation in the self-protective behavior of White people who don’t want to confront and deal with their racist thoughts and assumptions.