A South Burlington High School student’s message about “white fragility” is getting noticed in a big way.
Isaiah Hines, the 18-year-old senior who pushed the school board to abandon the Rebel nickname, became a viral hit this week for the race-related Facebook post. It’s also the latest virtual tussle over the controversial school name, which a group called the Rebel Alliance has staunchly defended.
Hines, who is black, posted a long retort last week to someone who circulated a photo that shows him in school standing next to a projected image of a slideshow that reads, “White People Are Fragile.” Christy Fay posted the image online and wrote, “THIS is considered acceptable in our high school?”
The short answer, according to Hines, is yes. Someone took the photo last school year as he presented about white fragility as part of a final project for his AP psychology class. Westfield State University professor Robin DiAngelo came up with the phrase, said Hines, who got the OK to discuss the topic from his teacher before presenting.
“It refers to a mental state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive actions and biological responses,” he wrote in his post. “It is a well-documented psychological phenomenon and it was entirely appropriate for the assignment.”
Hines posted his message on May 25. After the first day, it had been shared some 1,000 times. As of Friday afternoon, Facebook users had “reacted” to the post 54,000 times, shared it more than 42,000 times and commented 7,000 times.
People have contacted Hines from South Africa and Vietnam, among other places, to tell him how much his message has meant to them.
“I’m pretty excited,” Hines told Seven Days. “I think it’s pretty cool that my presentation has resonated with so many people all across the world. The reaction I’ve seen has been primarily positive.”
His classmates, too, found it enlightening, according to Hines, who said the most negative reaction came from those opposed to the name change.
“I did find it just a little funny how many of the people responding to this image with anger or indignation are actually displaying the psychological concept in action!” he wrote in his post. “It is absolutely possible to break the cycle and challenge or question this theory without engaging in the problematic behaviors associated with white fragility. However, it seems many people will still surrender to white fragility and become needlessly defensive and angry rather than engaging in constructive dialogue.”
Fay, who originally posted Hines’ photo, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Hines has been at the center of the Rebels debate since he began a campaign to change the name on the grounds that it alludes to the Confederacy and thus has a racist connotation. The school board in February voted to change the name and added money to the school budget to wipe “Rebels” from school playing fields, banners and uniforms.
The Rebel Alliance has urged its supporters to vote down the school budget. The city will try on Tuesday for the third time to pass a spending plan — but the battle is fierce.
Signs urging both yes and no votes have sprouted on front lawns and along South Burlington thoroughfares as the vote nears. Both sides have accused the other of stealing signs. And supporters of each have raised money to do political battle.
The VOTE YES 2017 group has raised $5,390 and spent $4,010 for its cause, according to campaign finance forms filed May 26. The Rebel Alliance group has raised $4,240 and spent $3,225, the filings show.
Both sides have spent most of their cash on newspaper advertisements, yard signs and other supplies, according to the reports.
The students at the high school, meanwhile, recently voted to rename the mascot the Wolves. While Hines voted for the Dolphins, he said, he’s happy to have even gotten to this point.
“The kids are so beyond it, and it’s just being dragged out,” Hines told Seven Days of the name change.
“I’ve been saying this the whole time: The kids, the actual students, are so much more adaptable and more mature than the adults,” Hines added. “I had friends who liked the Rebel name, but they were so understanding and willing to see it from another perspective — which I think the adults could do more of.”
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I’m not sure, Maggie, but calling it white fragility is racist though, whether it was intended that way or not. If the concept being discussed was ‘black fragility’, given that the word ‘fragility’ is always going to carry negative connotations, there would be no question in anyone’s mind that it was inappropriate.
Impt to talk about! What other names for the presentation would you suggest @SteveO? genuinely curious
Would like to see some other ideas to not “shut out” those that are “fragile.”
Looking over the power point linked in the post, the presentation seems fair and measured. The term ‘white fragility’ is an awful way to start it out, though, even if it’s fairly accurate. That needlessly puts a pretty large group of people on the defensive before the presentation even starts, and likely makes large portions of the audience in a position where they’re no longer as open to the ideas being discussed. Like the Rebel name, a large group of people is going to be offended by using the term ‘white fragility’, and rightfully so.
More evidence rife in the comments section. Sad group of supposed adults who refuse to listen or learn from people of color about shit you know nothing about because you haven’t had to…
The deniers have no idea how brave this young man is to stand up to all your bullshit– no clue.
I had friends who liked the Rebel name, but they were so understanding and willing to see it from another perspective which I think the adults could do more of.
This is what the Rebel name supporters are asking as well. I’ve spoken to a number of Rebel name supporters and their arguments have merit. It’s far too easy to boil it down to a race issue, especially given how the Rebel name lends itself to that by virtue of its history.
In any event, the white fragility presentation seems fine to me whether you are a rebel of a wolf.
I’ll just leave this here as it seems appropriate
https://twitter.com/i/moments/839324125940…
Isaac, stay clear and strong. That some white people can’t even handle a conversation about this is an example of the anxious fragility The article discusses whether you agree or disagree he with the authors series shouldn’t make it so hard to read that you have to attack the author or the poster.. I am white and it seems in my experience but trying to discuss rest of them often brings up anxiety and other white people and makes them feel like someone is trying said they are racist but repulses them and I don’t want to be part of that. And then I get stuck there I never got to think about the articles talking about. Sad but too true.
It is sad that over 50 years since the passing of the Civil Rights Act, people still insist on judging others on the basis of the color of their skin. Frankly, regardless of the amount of melanin, it seems there is plenty of fragility to go around. Absolutely some fragile members of a tax-paying community who can ill afford to pay more school taxes. And some fragile people offended by a mascot who find racism where it does not necessarily exist. And even some fragile members of a school board who ordered a fragile school administration to rebrand a mascot 2 years ago and then brought zero accountability to said administration’s refusal to execute such orders. On the other hand, if everyone is talking about it and making their points, just how fragile is anyone? If I was a fragile wolf, who knows, I might feel extremely offended that a bunch of humans want to culturally appropriate my species as their mascot.
Considering difficult and complex topics such as racism and “white fragility” are completely appropriate in a high school classroom. Looks like Hines gave a thoughtful presentation.Don’t just lob the way overused “political correctness” insult to avoid a real give-and-take discussion. Look into it, think about it, listen to what others are saying, then choose to respectfully agree or disagree.
The duly elected school board voted the name change. The student body seems fine with it and voted on a new mascot. Time for everyone to move on.
Eric Hoffer (1971): “The young have a genius for discovering imagined grievances. It goes without saying that imagined grievances cannot be cured but they enable the young to evade those aspects of reality which do not minister to their self-importance. . . .”
This case presents a prototype of Hoffer’s observation. While the innocuous SBHS Rebel name has been eliminated, at least for the time being, murder (mostly black-on-black) is still rampant in Chicago and other cities, the national debt is still $20 billion and growing, freedom of speech is under attack on college campuses, and innocent civilians in the Middle East, Europe, and the U.S. continue to be murdered with no end in sight by cowardly terrorists, which in turn leads to less and less privacy for ordinary people who just want to go about their business. These real problems cannot be solved by claiming victim status.