We all have entered this horrific national experience of racialized violence through different doors and view it with different lenses. If you are entering the experience with a desire to use your privilege to affect change, the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion encourages you to begin by learning about how to be an effective ally. This work is not easy nor seasonal, but rather it is necessary and must be consistent over time.
The Southern Poverty Law Center offers some guidance in its Teaching Tolerance magazine:
- Do listen and ask how you can help.
- Don’t expect another person to educate you about their identity.
- Do accept criticism thoughtfully.
- Don’t broadcast your qualifications for being an ally.
- Do speak up when you hear biased language.
- Don’t apologize for the actions of your identity group.
- Do seek support from experienced allies within your identity group.
- Don’t expect credit for being an ally.
- Do acknowledge intersectionality.
- Don’t selectively support one group over another.
You will also find other online resources at the links below:
- Speak Up: Responding to Everyday Bigotry: https://www.splcenter.org/20150125/speak-responding-everyday-bigotry
- 10 Things Allies Can Do: http://www.ywcahbg.org/sites/default/files/manager/10%20Things%20Allies%20Can%20Do.pdf (printable PDF)
- So You Call Yourself an Ally: 10 Things All ‘Allies’ Need to Know: https://everydayfeminism.com/2013/11/things-allies-need-to-know/
- So You Want to Wear a Safety Pin: https://isobeldebrujah.wordpress.com/2016/11/12/so-you-want-to-wear-a-safety-pin/
- Guide to Allyship: https://guidetoallyship.com/
- A Guide to How You Can Support Marginalized Communities: https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/30/us/how-to-be-an-ally-guide-trnd/index.html
- How to be and Ally: https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/spring-2018/how-to-be-an-ally