Is allyship enough?

Welcome to your weekly round-up of reflections and resources to advance your journey to transformation. If you want something featured, get in touch: [email protected].

Reflections on allyship

We've been thinking a lot about allyship and how to better show up for others. This has been an evolving conversation within JRNY Consulting, and we're seeing it unfold with our partners and across social media. The big question: How can we authentically show up for historically marginalised groups?

What does it mean to be an ally?

Being an ally requires active practice and deliberate awareness of power. Allyship involves listening to the experiences and perspectives of historically marginalised people, educating oneself on structural inequality, and using one's power and privilege to advocate for these groups.

Allyship isn't a bad thing.

But it can be performative...

Performative Allyship

Performative allyship occurs when individuals from non-marginalised groups express solidarity with historically marginalised communities in ways that are either unhelpful or actively harmful. This often benefits the ally more than the group they claim to support. For example, on social media, these actions can earn them praise and recognition as a "good person" or someone who is "on the right side," rather than making a meaningful difference for others. Performative allyship is virtue signalling:

To take a conspicuous but essentially useless action ostensibly to support a good cause but actually to show off how much more moral you are than everybody else. (Urban Dictionary)

How can you spot performative allyship in yourself or others?

• When allyship is self-proclaimed. When people show up opportunistically, historically marginalised people can spot the red flags. When people label themselves as allies, they are centring their own experience. You cannot self-identify as an ally. Only others can say whether you are an ally to them or not.
• When allyship folds under pressure. Structural inequality is implicit and explicit. It exists in all the corners of our social experiences. Historically marginalised communities are trying to survive the manifestations of inequality and power every day. If allyship relents when challenged by dominant structures or narratives, it's performative.
• When allyship is detached from history. Showing up is more than holding a sign at a protest; it requires educating oneself. We cannot show up for historically marginalised groups without understanding the history of their oppression. Allyship is performative if it isn't grounded in a deep and considered understanding of the evolution of inequality and marginalisation.

Even if allyship isn't performative, it still may not be enough. So what is?

Calling all Accomplices and Co-conspirators

Accomplices and Co-Conspirators work alongside historically marginalised communities, sharing power and resources to advance social justice. They use their positionality to amplify voices and challenge institutional racism (and all the other -isms), colonisation, and White supremacy by actively impeding oppressive people, policies, and structures.

“An accomplice takes action. An accomplice unapologetically names how systems of oppression are operating, how they might be benefitting from those systems of oppression, and then actively works to disrupt and dismantle them.”?- Kira Banks

Accomplices and Co-conspirators use collective action to centre the voices of others and take risks to challenge and dismantle structural oppression.

It's the risk-taking that matters. Accomplices and Co-conspirators do not operate on the sidelines of the struggle. They are in it. Their actions have consequences, and they accept the risk for the vision of co-liberation (more on co-liberation on another day).

“What I need is for people to come and work with us in the trenches and be there alongside us. It’s not about being on the outside and saying ‘yes, I support you!’ It’s about ‘not only do I support you, but I am here with you, I am rolling up my sleeves. What do I need to do?’” - Feminista Jones

Transitioning to becoming an Accomplice and Co-conspirator is uncomfortable. Challenging the status quo, when you actively benefit, is a difficult truth to confront. It also doesn't feel good to know that your actions, while well-meaning, are performative because the cost of authenticity may be too high. A question we've been grappling with: Should I take direct action and risk arrest if this may lead to my deportation? No one is asking us to put ourselves in this position, but when confronted by the suffering of others on such a catastrophic level, high-risk agitation is needed.

What are we willing to give up for the liberation of others?

It's a hard and deeply personal question to answer. But it's worth asking. This journey is an unrelenting barrage of uncomfortable exercises to unlearn and learn. We're on the journey, and we hope you'll join us.

Resources we like

• From ally to accomplice: How to lead as a fierce antiracist by Seena Hodges
• The Role of White Co-Conspirators in Dismantling Systemic Racism from Andrew Greenia and Embracing Equity
• From Allies to Accomplices: Get uncomfortable! from Camp Fire

ATTENTION: GOOD WHITE PEOPLE

Check out our podcast Journey to Transformation Episode 16: Attention: Good White People. In this episode, Teia Rogers and Lauren Emma B. talk about White allyship. What does it mean? How does a White person know when they are (or are not) an ally? What does this look like in our everyday interactions?

WARNING: This episode might be a lot for some White people. It could make you feel a bit uneasy and hot around the collar; you might even start realising you are part of the problem.....

Trigger Warning: This episode touches on personal experiences of racism.

Note: This episode was also recorded before we met Ettie Bailey-King , who drew our attention to the ableist language we were using. We thank Ettie for pointing this out, and we're continuing to work on being more inclusive.

If you need support, these organisations can help:

Black Minds Matter

Rethink Mental Illness

Mind

Listen to the Journey to Transformation podcast anywhere you listen to podcasts.

What's playing in the office?

Ezinma is a film composer, violinist, and advocate for music education, launching Strings By Heart— a youth development programme that brings quality music instruction, workshops, and outreach to children from underserved communities.

Vivaldi Springs Forth is on repeat.

Read more about Ezinma and how she's smashing the 'classics'.