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By: Moussa Yarori
According to Wikipedia, Allyship “is the practice of emphasizing social justice, inclusion, and human rights by members of an in-group, to advance the interests of an oppressed or marginalized out-group”. And, when it comes to harmful legislation, bias and discrimination, and even hate crimes, allies do much more harm than good by choosing to stay impartial on these issues.
Allyship is an active process. It cannot solely be done through talking but by actions. Nor can it be an identity that one undergoes when it’s convenient. It is the act of amplifying our sound, listening to and supporting BIPOC, and most importantly, starting conversations.
Being an Ally is about acting on your views and ideologies, rather than treating them like sideline attributes. It’s about calling out bigotry and injustice every and anywhere you can. In order to create safer spaces for BIPOC, Allies should aid the community in deconstructing and eliminating the factors that make those spaces unsafe.
An ally should challenge and inform their peers, with the goal of expanding conversations about racial identity, racism, and injustice. In essence, allyship is about involvement and engagement. Allyship, when utilized correctly, can be used to support BIPOC in fighting against racial discrimination and inequality. Allyship is not finding the issues mentioned above as “unfortunate”, instead it is about partaking in the fight against those issues.
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