THE word “ally” carries a lot of weight in today’s woke culture or any other social justice issues and a lot of the time, allies of disenfranchised groups sometimes receive praise for doing the bare minimum.
What does it mean to be a ally for the LGBTQ community? What does it mean to be a male ally for violence against women or being a white ally for racial justice?
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I think it’s easy to show your fellow users online that you care about the above-mentioned issues when they are spread across the timeline and all you do as an “ally” is click on the retweet function on Twitter or re-post on your Instagram story.
Without trying to denounce social media activism (I think it’s very valid) the most important part about being an activist or an ally is about self-reflection.
If you understand your position of privilege as an ally and all you have to do is step-back and stand by the group you’re supporting without overstating your role – then you’re doing fairly well as an ally.
Allies are meant to be in the background, like a support structure for the oppressed. It becomes problematic when an ally’s voice is being heard more than the group they support – it completely defeats the point of being an ally.
As an ally to any struggle, your point of view is from the outside looking in. For example, if you’re an ally for the LGBTQ community and you’re straight – you need to understand the complexities of the community you’re supporting and all the trauma they’ve been through.
Recognising your privilege is very important as an ally; I’m not saying every ally of every marginalised community is privileged, but a lot of the time you can find yourself in more privileged position than the community you’re trying to support.
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As a straight, gender-conforming, black man – there are a lot of societal privileges that I have and I recognise them, but it would be so easy for me to live in my little privileged bubble and worry only about myself. Which is why it’s important to have a lot of empathy as an ally.
To try and imagine or understand someone’s pain, without downplaying their struggles, is an important part on being a good ally.
One thing that troubles me about people and social justice issues is how you can actually build a brand through other people’s pain.
Illustrator, Elwing Gonzalez, perfectly summarised the role of the ally in one of his artworks. “Being a good ally is not demanding a place in a marginalised group’s celebration, conversation or community space. Being a good ally is respecting that not everything is for and about you.”
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