Chika Unigwe's Blog - Posts Tagged "racism-allyship"
A Manual for White Allies /Potential Allies of Black People in America
1.Understand that allyship is intentional. You are not an ally because your partner is black, your best friend is black, your dog is black; you like Mexican food, you watch foreign movies, you’ve been to South Africa; you adopted a black kid, you’re a liberal, your kid’s best friend is black. You’re an ally because you’ve chosen to take a side against injustice, and you make that choice every single day, in deed and in words.
2. Learn to listen with humility and compassion. Do not interrupt to say “I know how you feel,” or “I was once discriminated against” or “I was picked on at school for having red/thin/whatever hair.” Do not especially add, after you’ve said any of the above, “I got over it. We’ve got to move forward.”
3. Never ever say at any point, “Not all white people are racist.” We know that. If your child was being bullied at school, to the point where their life was miserable and they came to complain to you, would you tell them, “Not all children are bullies”? It wouldn’t matter to you or them that out of 2000 students, one was making your child’s life miserable. You’d use your voice. You’d go to the authorities and complain about it, and if your concerns were brushed aside, you’d complain that the school, as an institution, failed you and your child. You might even pull your child from the school.
4. Acknowledge your privilege (especially when you have the intersecting privileges of class and race), and use it for good. You can’t help the circumstances of your birth, but you can help what you do with the advantages you have. Speak up where you can/should, amplify the voices of the oppressed in the spaces where your privileges give you access
5. Read up more on the history of America, on racism, on police brutality. America was founded/ built on racism ( the original owners were decimated, Africans brought in as slaves), racism will never die out but institutionalized discrimination, violence on black bodies backed by authority, shouldn't be something Americans should still be confronted with in the 21st century. In the present circumstances and in similar ones, do not use the excuse of looters (both black and white) who often have little to nothing to do with the protests to discredit a righteous cause. Should the entire nation go up in flames, we all will suffer the consequences
Chika Unigwe
2. Learn to listen with humility and compassion. Do not interrupt to say “I know how you feel,” or “I was once discriminated against” or “I was picked on at school for having red/thin/whatever hair.” Do not especially add, after you’ve said any of the above, “I got over it. We’ve got to move forward.”
3. Never ever say at any point, “Not all white people are racist.” We know that. If your child was being bullied at school, to the point where their life was miserable and they came to complain to you, would you tell them, “Not all children are bullies”? It wouldn’t matter to you or them that out of 2000 students, one was making your child’s life miserable. You’d use your voice. You’d go to the authorities and complain about it, and if your concerns were brushed aside, you’d complain that the school, as an institution, failed you and your child. You might even pull your child from the school.
4. Acknowledge your privilege (especially when you have the intersecting privileges of class and race), and use it for good. You can’t help the circumstances of your birth, but you can help what you do with the advantages you have. Speak up where you can/should, amplify the voices of the oppressed in the spaces where your privileges give you access
5. Read up more on the history of America, on racism, on police brutality. America was founded/ built on racism ( the original owners were decimated, Africans brought in as slaves), racism will never die out but institutionalized discrimination, violence on black bodies backed by authority, shouldn't be something Americans should still be confronted with in the 21st century. In the present circumstances and in similar ones, do not use the excuse of looters (both black and white) who often have little to nothing to do with the protests to discredit a righteous cause. Should the entire nation go up in flames, we all will suffer the consequences
Chika Unigwe
