I like this tweet by Kayla Reed:
View attachment 660367
She said (in case you can't see the image):
A- always center the impacted
L- listen & learn from those who live in the oppression
L- leverage your privilege
Y- yield the floor
To be a true ally when it comes to conversations or issues with race, you don't change the conversation to anything else. The focus is the problems that are at hand. Any time you change the discussion to serve YOUR purpose, you discredit yourself. There is nothing honorable about it. You are not an ally. Your actions are not anti-racist.
To be a true ally, be willing to listen. JUST LISTEN. Right now is not the time to let YOUR perspective be heard over others. It is not your time to attempt to show how knowledgeable you are on the topic. You don't assume what the person or group of people are thinking or how they feel. You just listen. Not everything requires your reaction no matter how thoughtful and intelligent or woke you think your response is. If the conversation is all of a sudden on your agenda, you are not an ally. Your actions are not anti-racist.
To be a true ally, you need to use your privilege and your voice to amplify the voices of the people who are impacted by racism. You use your platform to share their voices, to build, and never to shame, break, troll, or silence them. If you cannot handle this part, step back. Let those who know how to support and be an ally take the lead. If you are using your privilege, your skills, your friends to silence or discredit a person speaking out against racism, you are not an ally. Your actions are NOT anti-racist.
To be a true ally, sometimes it is best to be silent and yield the floor so that your voice is NOT the loudest voice in the room. The lasting impression should not be what you want, or how you feel, or what you were trying to do. Again, anything you do to take away from the point of the discussion is the actions of someone who is not an ally. Therefore, your actions are NOT anti-racist.
Now- I do not assume that everyone is a good person or that everyone even cares to support those who continue to use their voices against hate, oppression, and backward ideals. And I must state that false/ fake allies, gas lighters, trolls, and abusers often pretend they are here to help. They pretend to agree. Then they attempt to discredit, harass, and often play the victim. ALL of this noise is in hopes that the main message is lost.
Suddenly it isn't about the racism. It's about how bad or evil or mean or stupid or misguided or wrong the person is who reported the issues in the first place. All of a sudden it's about how to paint this person in the worst light possible. And those actions are actions that someone who is an OPPRESSOR would actually do. The narrative changes where suddenly the darker skinned person seems awful, and the lighter skinned person is the one who was truly wronged... Hmm... that feels like the same actions that racists would take. Historically, they are exactly the tactics of that type of person.
And I would think that anyone who is a true ally would never go through such lengths to silence my message when the message was about one person AND this:
There are those of you out there who don't see how viewing us as monsters and animals is a problem and is dangerous or detrimental to us when you....
This is serious, and this is often life or death for people who look like me.
So when I say that I will not entertain those who wish to play devil's advocate, or play the enforcer/ my teacher, or play the victim when this ignorance harbored in the hearts of men repeatedly causes harm to my people, I mean that!
So... if your actions truly describe an ally when it comes to the issues of race, thank you. But... if your actions are described as a person who is not, you still have a choice. Here it is:
Be a true ally and carry on!
View attachment 660367
She said (in case you can't see the image):
A- always center the impacted
L- listen & learn from those who live in the oppression
L- leverage your privilege
Y- yield the floor
To be a true ally when it comes to conversations or issues with race, you don't change the conversation to anything else. The focus is the problems that are at hand. Any time you change the discussion to serve YOUR purpose, you discredit yourself. There is nothing honorable about it. You are not an ally. Your actions are not anti-racist.
To be a true ally, be willing to listen. JUST LISTEN. Right now is not the time to let YOUR perspective be heard over others. It is not your time to attempt to show how knowledgeable you are on the topic. You don't assume what the person or group of people are thinking or how they feel. You just listen. Not everything requires your reaction no matter how thoughtful and intelligent or woke you think your response is. If the conversation is all of a sudden on your agenda, you are not an ally. Your actions are not anti-racist.
To be a true ally, you need to use your privilege and your voice to amplify the voices of the people who are impacted by racism. You use your platform to share their voices, to build, and never to shame, break, troll, or silence them. If you cannot handle this part, step back. Let those who know how to support and be an ally take the lead. If you are using your privilege, your skills, your friends to silence or discredit a person speaking out against racism, you are not an ally. Your actions are NOT anti-racist.
To be a true ally, sometimes it is best to be silent and yield the floor so that your voice is NOT the loudest voice in the room. The lasting impression should not be what you want, or how you feel, or what you were trying to do. Again, anything you do to take away from the point of the discussion is the actions of someone who is not an ally. Therefore, your actions are NOT anti-racist.
Now- I do not assume that everyone is a good person or that everyone even cares to support those who continue to use their voices against hate, oppression, and backward ideals. And I must state that false/ fake allies, gas lighters, trolls, and abusers often pretend they are here to help. They pretend to agree. Then they attempt to discredit, harass, and often play the victim. ALL of this noise is in hopes that the main message is lost.
Suddenly it isn't about the racism. It's about how bad or evil or mean or stupid or misguided or wrong the person is who reported the issues in the first place. All of a sudden it's about how to paint this person in the worst light possible. And those actions are actions that someone who is an OPPRESSOR would actually do. The narrative changes where suddenly the darker skinned person seems awful, and the lighter skinned person is the one who was truly wronged... Hmm... that feels like the same actions that racists would take. Historically, they are exactly the tactics of that type of person.
And I would think that anyone who is a true ally would never go through such lengths to silence my message when the message was about one person AND this:
There are those of you out there who don't see how viewing us as monsters and animals is a problem and is dangerous or detrimental to us when you....
- See us in a neighborhood that you think we "don't belong in."
- Or when we interview for a job.
- Or when we are pulled over.
- Or when we are just minding our own businesses living our everyday lives and someone is afraid just because we're Black.
This is serious, and this is often life or death for people who look like me.
So when I say that I will not entertain those who wish to play devil's advocate, or play the enforcer/ my teacher, or play the victim when this ignorance harbored in the hearts of men repeatedly causes harm to my people, I mean that!
So... if your actions truly describe an ally when it comes to the issues of race, thank you. But... if your actions are described as a person who is not, you still have a choice. Here it is:
Be a true ally and carry on!
