‘White Fragility’ Author Robin DiAngelo Accused of Plagiarizing People Of Color

White diversity trainer Robin DiAngelo published a book in 2018 called "White Fragility," in which she implores white Americans to look for and recognize their inherent privilege.

In an "accountability" statement on her website, she tells "fellow white people" that they should "always cite and give credit to the work of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.) people who have informed your thinking."

"When you use a phrase or idea you got from a BIPOC person," DiAngelo continues, "credit them."

Fair.

Writers should credit anyone whose work they use, regardless of their skin color. Other than plagiarists like former Harvard president Claudine Gay, most writers would agree.

But we aren't sure Robin DiAngelo is one of them.

Washington Free Beacon writer Aaron Sibarium obtained a complaint to the University of Washington, where DiAngelo received her Ph.D. in multicultural education, alleging that DiAngelo "plagiarized" several scholars in her doctoral thesis. 

Two of the scholars she seemingly plagiarized were people of color. Of course, they were.

The complaint outlines 20 examples of alleged plagiarism, including how DiAngelo's 2004 dissertation, "Whiteness in Racial Dialogue: A Discourse Analysis," lists two paragraphs from Northeastern University professor Thomas Nakayama – who is  Asian-American – without proper attribution, omitting quotation marks and in-text citations.

"DiAngelo also lifts material from Stacey Lee, an Asian-American professor of education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in which Lee summarizes the work of a third scholar, David Theo Goldberg," adds the Free Beacon report.

Here are some of the side-by-side images of DiAngelo's work and those from whom she allegedly stole paragraphs:

National Association of Scholars President Peter Wood told the Beacon that DiAngelo's improper citations are tantamount to "forgery."

"It is never appropriate to use the secondary source without acknowledging it, and even worse to present it as one’s own words," said Wood. "That’s plagiarism."

As the Beacon points out, DiAngelo rakes in around $1 million a year in speaking fees and therapeutic workshops —which can cost up to $40,000 per session – based on the premise that she is a white woman, has a  Ph.D in multicultural education and seeks to uncover systemic racism where no one else is looking.

DiAngelo’s career alone proves she's a gifting fraud. Yet, now we have proof she's only just a fraud, in the classic sense. 

Will DiAngelo give the people of color whom she plagiarized some of her millions? Is she showing some white fragility herself? Based on her own teachings, she ought to.

Here's DiAngelo saying white people are born "illiterate on the topic of race" on NBC News: