How to be an ally: Here’s what white allyship actually looks like

When protesters called for racial justice after George Floyd’s death, some tried to better understand the concept of the “white ally”.

What is an ally? Some people prefer terms such as “accomplice” or “co-conspirator”, but the basic concept is to raise awareness about racial issues and to support measures to counter racism.

Comprehensive advice on the ally often includes things like: Listen more than you speak; don’t assume you know everything; Don’t be defensive if you don’t know everything. apologize if you do something wrong; Remember that an ally is not about you or your feelings. Don’t expect a gold star if you’re not racist. And that’s just to start with.

For some, this may be the first time that they are concerned with what it means to be an ally.

But probably more and more people are asking this question after the world has their eyes on them Protests in the US and elsewhere Demand for justice after a black man in Minnesota named George Floyd was killed by the police.

Floyd’s death is part of a story of police brutality against black Americans, including Breonna Taylor, that the police shot in March at her home in Louisville, Kentucky. Outrage at these deaths is a turning point regarding racial injustices in the United States. Viewers recorded the events before Floyd’s death on May 25 with their smartphones and distributed the videos widely, which has drawn more attention than ever. In the United States alone, there were protests in more than 400 cities, large and small.

A survey by Monmouth University last week found that 76% of Americans (71% of whites) described racism and discrimination as a “major problem” in the country. That is a jump of 26 percentage points in just five years.

More and more people are taking action to solve this problem. In the White Ally Toolkit Workbook, author, speaker and founder of The Dialog Company, David W. Campt, who runs workshops on “Inclusion and Justice, Cultural Competence and Group Dialogue” writes that he uses the term “ally” as an abbreviation for “every white person who thinks against racism [people of color] is a special problem, and who sometimes takes certain measures to combat it. ”

It is not difficult to find a variety of resources to help whites understand how they can be better allies.

In Campt’s explanation of the term, he also admits that the term itself is not perfect – and not everyone agrees to its use.

Emily Joye McGaughy, a moderator for allies for change that do our own work: a seminar against racism for whites, For example, terms like “comrade” or “co-conspirator” are preferred because they less imply that a white person fights another person’s fight on behalf of that other person. In pre-pandemic times, Allies for Change hosted the more than 40-hour seminar in cities across Michigan and outside the state in places like Seattle, Chicago, and Cleveland.

“To end white supremacy means to end it in ourselves,” said McGaughy. “I don’t see it as someone else’s fight, I think a lot about it as my fight that is not separate from the lives of black and indigenous people.”

In fact, everyone who has been on social media has likely had a lot of talk about what exactly an ally is and the dangers of using the term only as a pin. (There was also talk of, for example, posting a black box on social media without taking any further action.)

The disassembly collective, which describes itself as “disrupting and dismantling everyone in the color group whose goal is to name, dominate and dismantle white supremacy,” explains on its resource side for white allies that it is more of a process to be an ally : “[it] is not an identity, it is an ongoing and lifelong process that requires a lot of work. ”

As Ibram X. Kendi wrote in his 2019 book “How to be an anti-racist”, it is neither a fixed identity to be a racist nor an anti-racist: “What we say about race determines what we do about race in every moment what – not who – we are. ”

Working from the inside

When it comes to allies, “work” is the operative term.

Whether someone is beginning to see how deeply rooted systemic racism is, or has been aware for some time, there is no final transcendental level that could be reached.

Robin DiAngelo, author of White Fragility: Why it is so difficult for whites to talk about racism is offered by a two-page checklist for anti-racists. The list contains behaviors that must be adopted:

• “I willingly accept – without explanation or ‘evidence’ – the position or perception of a person with color.”
• “I realize that it’s not about me.” I avoid personalizing racist issues when they are discussed. “
• “I can accept leadership from both colored and white people.”

And avoid others:

• “When colored people point out racism, I feel personally attacked.”
• “I use the meeting time to find my anti-racist credentials (e.g. to tell stories about how I walked in the sixties or how many friends of the paint I have).”
• “I speak for colored people and try to explain their positions.”

Right now, in the midst of global protests and renewed research into racist injustices, there are long lists of materials describing what can be read, seen and heard in order to learn more about racism and its effects.

What underlies many of these resource guides is the idea that white people themselves have to take responsibility for this introspective work and do not have to rely on colored people to educate them. As much as people think that visiting a colored person is a sign of goodwill, openness, or evidence that they are “one of the good”, experts say that it burdens the person they ask for advice.

People with color “get increasingly tired when raising white people,” Campt wrote in the White Ally Toolkit Workbook. “You are already dealing with the additional burden of dealing with racism.”

Initially, the whites to talk about education should be other whites, said Leslie Mac, who runs workshops on social justice strategies, including those on white allies.

“We are talking about the different facets of white supremacy culture, the way they participate in, support and tolerate white supremacy culture,” said Mac. “It’s an” I, we, we “conversation that you have to talk to yourself and the people in your life.”

In the workshop “Doing Our Own Work,” McGaughy said, participants would experience role-playing scenarios that they are likely to encounter – like someone who says “all life is important.” Before becoming a presenter, McGaughy herself attended the seminar almost 11 years ago and thought at the time that she was a “good white-liberal progressive” who came from the east side of Los Angeles and was concerned with justice, but really had no idea how “White has armed [her] whole being. ”

“It was the first time that I was in a purely white room, where I felt that people were holding each other accountable for racism without having colored people in the room.”

To become active

All of this self-education and introspection is just a start, McGaughy and Mac said.

McGaughy emphasized not to be “isolated in white work”.

“There is no substitute relationship between responsibility and support with colored people and the support of movement leaders,” she said.

In Mac’s workshops, participants create actionable plans – and ensure that these plans match the goals of the local organizers and support broader goals.

“You have to do the work you can [and] affect the power structures they have access to, the way these structures work, and what they can do to disrupt them, “she said, noting that past participants raised $ 50,000 in bail and their school board for example, require anti-racist training for PTA members.

Action is important.

Mac said one of the biggest pitfalls that allies get into (along with putting their own feelings at the center of their motivation) is paralyzed because they fear they are doing something wrong.

Experts advise you not to become defensive. Instead, listen, admit the mistake, apologize, and continue.

“This is no stranger to us,” said Mac. “The question is what you do when you screw it up and how you prepare to react in a way that is not additionally harmful and actually take responsibility for your actions.”