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Fifty-four years have passed since that historic march for voting rights, but as speakers lamented last Sunday, we are still fighting for the right to vote today.

However, as聽in Montgomery as part of last weekend鈥檚 Bloody Sunday anniversary, 鈥淲e come with the spirit and the belief that we can change things. We have the power. We have the ability. We can do it.鈥澛�

Doing the hard work of achieving the ideals of the civil rights movement is the message of white academic and diversity trainer Robin DiAngelo鈥檚 recent book 鈥淲hite Fragility.鈥� It has spent seven months near the top ofTheNew York Times聽bestseller list despite a challenging message to white people, its intended audience: When 鈥斅爊ot if 鈥斅爕ou perpetuate racism,听.听

鈥淚n my experience, day in and day out, most white people are absolutely not receptive to finding out their impact on other people,鈥� DiAngelo told Nosheen Iqbal forThe Guardian. She recounted the way that 鈥淭hey insist, 鈥榃ell, it鈥檚 not me鈥�, or say 鈥業鈥檓 doing my best, what do you want from me?鈥欌��

One problem, DiAngelo says, is that white progressives often define racism as something obvious and violent 鈥斅爈ike when police beat civil rights marchers in Selma in 1965 鈥斅爓hen the reality is that it is much more insidious.

鈥淲e have to stop thinking about racism simply as someone who says the N-word,鈥� she told Iqbal. 鈥淭his book is centered in the white western colonial context, and in that context white people hold institutional power.鈥�

But over the course of 20 years of doing trainings around race and diversity, DiAngelo has discovered that white progressives who say they want to be allies to people of color are often nonetheless聽.

DiAngelo defines this as white fragility 鈥� the inability of white people to tolerate racial stress.

鈥淚 want to build the stamina to handle the discomfort so we don鈥檛 retreat in the face of it, because retreating holds the status quo in place, and the status quo is the reproduction of racism,鈥滵iAngelo explained.

Without that stamina, white people who discover ways they may have accidentally perpetuated racial inequality and injustice too often 鈥渨eaponi[ze their] hurt feelings鈥� by getting indignant and defensive, in turn creating a climate that makes聽聽around them.

As DiAngelo asks, 鈥淚f nobody is racist, why is racism still America鈥檚 biggest problem? What are white people afraid they will lose by listening?鈥�

It can be difficult to know how to do that in the moment. Our guide on聽聽can help. So can our guide on, one of which is to educate yourself through cross-racial conversations, like the kind DiAngelo has been promoting for decades.

After all, within the white, western colonial context, DiAngelo points out: 鈥淩acism is a white problem. It was constructed and created by white people and the ultimate responsibility lies with white people. For too long we鈥檝e looked at it as if it were someone else鈥檚 problem.鈥澛�

On this anniversary of the march from Selma to Montgomery, when聽,听, and聽, it could not be more clear.

The Editors.

P.S. Here are some other pieces we think are valuable this week:聽

• 聽by Liz Vinson for the聽澳彩开奖
• 聽by Katie Mettler for聽The Washington Post
• 聽by Billy Witz for聽The New York Times
• 聽by Matthew Desmond for聽The New York Times Magazine

澳彩开奖鈥檚 Weekend Readings are a weekly summary of the most important news reporting and commentary from around the country on civil rights, economic and racial inequality, and hate and extremism.听Sign up to receive Weekend Readings every Saturday morning.

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