Ally Advice

In the days following the killing of two more black men at the hands of police, I've seen several articles online that list things concerned white people can do. Since that seems to apply to me, I've been reading them. But I find they leave a lot to be desired.

The lists seem to fall into one of two categories: in the first, they're aiming at people new to the issue, and the list is just ten different ways of saying, "open your mind to the possibility that maybe perhaps there is still some racism in the world." That and, stop saying "All Lives Matter."

As for the second, this article from the Washington Post is a good example: There isn't a whole lot of practical advice, but there is denigration of people who aren't activists and suspicion of white progressives. This list, and others I've seen, hold the philosophy that caucasions have to change their behaviour, and shouldn't look to blacks to tell them what to do.

It may sound reasonable that black people don't have a responsibility to fix white people. But the problem that these activists are trying to change is the behaviour of whites. So if the activists are not working to change white people, then what exactly are they doing? I'm certainly not claiming that this is a fair situation: it obviously isn't. But that's what activism is: fighting an unfair situation.

So I've come away from this experience confused. I'd like to do something to help a huge problem, but it's not clear what to do. I make an effort to examine my own actions and reactions to be as fair as possible. I've also used the Internet to learn about the perspectives of people from different backgrounds. I guess I'm assuming that there must be a level of action that's beyond "don't be personally racist" and "march in the streets." I'm thinking that for major change to happen, there needs to be a wider movement, but of people doing more than just minding their own actions.

Anyway, Here's a much friendlier list. (Sorry it's a PDF.)