Nanette D. Massey

An audience has blossomed for Nanette Massey’s weekly Zoom calls.

BATAVIA — What is white fragility?

In this episode of “Buffalo, What’s Next?” Brigid Jaipal-Valenza digs deep with facilitator and Buffalo writer, Nanette Massey, who connects the dots of white privilege and racial bias through weekly virtual workshops.

Two powerhouse speakers who are joining forces this weekend to demonstrate how to move beyond false politeness to authentic conversations about race that can actually produce real change.

When Nanette Massey hosted her first seminar on racism in 2018 for a primarily white audience, it wasn’t the success she had hoped for. It was held at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo on Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo not long after a Black Lives Matter sign had been installed on the side of the building.

She didn’t see it coming. Writer Nanette D. Massey had been doing live workshops, mainly with Rochester-based professional groups, for around two years. The workshop is based on Robin D’Angelo’s New York Times best-selling book White Fragility, which explores what happens when white people’s assumptions about race are challenged and how that dynamic perpetuates racial inequality. Then the pandemic hit.

We’re joined by Nanette D. Massey, a writer and diversity and inclusion trainer. Massey lives in Buffalo, but will be in Rochester for several upcoming events during which she’ll educate audiences about racism, white fragility, and more.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — “White Fragility”. It’s the title of a New York Times bestseller that one Buffalo woman is using to help bridge a gap.

So, recent guest columnist John Calia, an old white guy, is angry. In 1961, James Baldwin wrote “to be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time. So that the first problem is how to control that rage so that it won’t destroy you.”

In the wake of George Floyd’s murder many Americans are loosening their pandemic restrictions to march in protest, including a significant number of white protestors, and even more are posting supportive messages and sharing outrage on social media.