A Note on the Recent Coca-Cola / Big Think / LinkedIn Controversy
Dr. DiAngelo was not the creator or facilitator of the LinkedIn Learning course “Confronting Racism, with Robin DiAngelo.” She was unaware that her name, image, and work were being presented in this way and did not participate in or agree to the creation and distribution of an educational resource based on her research.
The course consisted of a selection of clips from an interview Dr. DiAngelo did for the outlet Big Think in 2018, in promotion of her book. The videos were re-edited and presented as an anti-racism training resource by Big Think, who then licensed it to LinkedIn Learning. She did not create or approve the slides that were included with the video, and they do not represent the work she does for her virtual or in-person presentations, trainings, and workshops.
The course was removed voluntarily by the owners and creators of the content when it was brought to their attention that it was being used without her knowledge.
White Fragility is a vital, necessary and beautiful book, a bracing call to white folk everywhere to see their whiteness for what it is and to seize the opportunity to make things better now. DiAngelo joins the front ranks of white anti-racist thinkers with a stirring call to conscience, and most important, consciousness, in her white brothers. White fragility is a truly generative idea… an idea whose time has come.
Rarely will one find an analysis of racism that is as comprehensive as this one. From incisive and wide-ranging critiques of how white folks deflect, deny, and evade the topic of racism, and the implications of our own racial identity and position, to an absolutely on-point interrogation of how racism and whiteness influence the larger educational process, Robin DiAngelo demonstrates the kind of clarity of thought so needed on this important subject.
Sensoy & DiAngelo’s book sings with insight, clarity and humanity. This is a brilliant primer to help us consider what it means to think critically and to act for justice.