The concept of white fragility goes back to the CRT activist and author Robin DiAngelo.171 For DiAngelo, antiracist engagement requires a constant process of self-reflection and self-criticism.172 White fragility allegedly manifests itself when white people become angry, contradict, remain silent, or walk away as soon as they are called “racist”. White people are said to react defensively because they cannot tolerate the “racial stress” when made aware that they are complicit in the white system.173
Unsurprisingly, most people find it insulting to be told that they are racist by nature. Nevertheless, woke activists claim to understand the true motives behind white thinking better. According to DiAngelo, any resistance to accusations of racism proves a racist form of fragility. By rebelling against their role as guilty oppressors, privileged persons reveal their fragility, with which they allegedly want to maintain their racism.174 As allies, white people must adopt a submissive attitude (see Critical Whiteness). Only those who prove themselves through allyship and agree with the ideas of woke activists are not fragile.
The accusation of fragility functions like a Kafka trap.175 Denying reactions to accusations of racism, however, are no evidence of racism (just as with any other accusation). The accusation of fragility fits much better with the behaviour of many woke activists: if the term “fragility” is meant to describe an inappropriate defensive reaction triggered in people as soon as their own worldview is questioned, then it applies to woke activists themselves (see Cancel Culture).