White Privilege vs. White Fragility

White privilege infers the advantages and conveniences granted to white people by society for simply being part of what has long been considered “the norm”. White fragility is “a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves” (DiAngelo, 2011). White fragility is the raw emotion, often a visceral reaction, felt by many white people when issues regarding unequal treatments of different races are discussed and often include defensive actions when racial advantages and disadvantages are discussed. Defenses include separating oneself from others when accused of receiving certain advantages for being white by seeing oneself as an individual instead of part of a universal, or they downplay the significance of race, such claiming as “colorblindness”. 

Diversity doesn't stick without inclusion.
Retrieved from: https://hbr.org/2017/02/diversity-doesnt-stick-without-inclusion

The actions or reactions, usually performed because of white fragility, actually help promote white privilege, either consciously or unconsciously. White people are rarely asked to speak on a subject as a representative for their whole race and often separate themselves as individuals from others who are accused of benefiting from white privilege, or the “bad” white people. “[White people] are taught to value the individual and to see themselves as individuals rather than as part of a racially socialized group. Individualism erases history and hides the ways in which wealth has been distributed and accumulated over generations to benefit whites today” (DiAngelo, 2011). 

Another example is claiming to be “colorblind” to race, which emerged after the Civil Rights era. “In school, colorblindness can send a message to children that everyone shares the same cultural experience...Translating colorblindness into curriculum also can telegraph messages to children that the cultural experience of being white and middle class is the desired standard” (Fergus, 2017). While white privilege and white fragility are two different entities, they often go hand-in-hand, perpetuating and building off of each other.