Being a good ally means creating space, and then getting out of the way
Today is Day 4 of a 5-day challenge in partnership with Frederick Joseph, author of The Black Friend: On Being A Better White Person, for the Yahoo Life 5-Day Allyship Pledge.
On Day 4 of the Yahoo Life Allyship Pledge, advocate Frederick Joseph asks readers to "create space and get out of the way."
“What does it mean to create space? I like to define it as looking at the benefits [we] have, and the resources, access and privilege that come along with them,” he says, explaining those who are oppressed need better access to resources and privileges.
“Many times the benefits, resources, and privileges that [we] have are only [available] because someone else is being oppressed,” Joseph continues, explaining it is important to move aside.
However, he cautions against practising “saviorism,” or doing anything in order to receive favor or praise. “Do the right thing simply because it's the right thing to do,” says Joseph.
He points out how white saviorism and “performative activism” can sometimes be seen by white people supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.
“One example of performative activism is when people were posting [images of] black squares during the protests of 2020,” Joseph says, emphasizing many had good intentions while posting on social media -- but did reflect on whether their actions would create real change.
“The challenge for Day 4 is to find an organization, or an individual, [working] to dismantle systems you benefit from,” Joseph continues.
Video Transcript
FREDERICK JOSEPH: Hey, everyone. Frederick Joseph here with day four of our five-day challenge to help you on the road to being a better ally.
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FREDERICK JOSEPH: So, in days one, two, and three, we first learned how to take inventory of our own privilege. , Then we learned how to be a bit uncomfortable when learning and unlearning things, and then after that, we learned about accountability.
So, day four of our challenge is about creating space and then getting out the way.
So what does it mean to create space? I like to define it as looking at the benefits that you have and the resources, access, and privilege that comes along with them, oftentimes, the only reason you have them in the first place is because someone had to be oppressed to get there. So, giving that up or creating more of that for other people, and then moving aside, is so important.
So, I'll use an example of myself. I'm a man, and I benefit from the patriarchy. So creating space for a woman might mean something as simple as saying, hey, there's a job position opening, and everyone who works at my firm is a man. We should definitely consider making more space for women by focusing thoughtfully on hiring a woman. So, another important part of this is getting out of the way.
Another thing that people do wrong is they expect to be rewarded, noted, or appreciated for the thing that they're doing. This also comes into play with reformative activism. When people were posting black squares during the protests of 2020, it seemed like a really good gesture, I'm sure to many, but you have to ask yourself, what systemic change does that actually accomplish? Well, the answer is it doesn't, which is why performative activism is oftentimes simply done to make people feel good about the ways in which they benefit from oppressing other people, whether intentioned or not.
So, in our challenge for day three, we wrote down systems that we benefit from that we want to help dismantle. So, now what I want you to do is put them into action. The challenge for day four is to find an organization or an individual who's doing work to dismantle systems that are marginalizing people in which you benefit from. Donate to them or volunteer with them.
Maybe you want to go online and amplify their work so others can donate or volunteer as well. If you wrote down you want to dismantle the justice system as it's currently constructed, think about your privileges, and figure out how you might use those things to help support people or organizations who are working to dismantle the justice system.
For more resources on allyship, go to the Yahoo Allyship Pledge at yahoo.com/allyship. I'll see you all tomorrow for our fifth and final challenge day on the road to systemic change.
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