It's often intriguing to me that in my personal and professional lives I have talked about and shared information like this and graphics like this way more than I feel I should have to. The normalization and casual integration of racism, White supremacy, and White privilege affect me personally as a person of color but also professionally as an HR professional who works very hard to make sure hiring practices, management practices, and work cultures are devoid of this pyramid and its building blocks. You cannot imagine how many interactions with directors and hiring managers are rife with indifference and minimization or how integrated veiled racism is in the work culture and fabric of higher ed. It's daunting...but I've never been one to lay down. I'll keep sharing this info and educating and checking people and their supremacy personally and professionally because without challenge there is no change.

So I’m currently reading Robin DiAngelo’s impeccable book White Fragility. I’m 1/4 of the way through and I can’t recommend it enough, not just for White people but for people of color as well. Why, you ask? I view reading material of this nature as another tool, another layer of understanding, for both Whites and POC to take into conversations with White people about race. Race is a social construct; in order to effectively connect with Whites and POC alike concerning race I believe one needs to have as much understanding of the mental and emotional aspects of race as they can acquire.

DiAngelo’s book extends beyond the basics of White fragility that many POC are familiar with and adds psychological context and extra insight...from a White person who admits they will forever be doing their own work to be better. The insights I’ve come across in this book and the candor with which they’re shared has already got me re-evaluating and building upon my approaches to conversations about race.

To make change happen one has to be willing to change themselves. That’s the only way we build a deeper understanding in White America of the way race factors into every part of our lives and how they too have to be active and evolving participants in things being better.