you are on the ally continuum? If you are a person of color, you can still become an ant-racist ally to other racially marginalized group. Do you think you already demonstrate allyship? Share with the other participants the ways in which you are already an ally, and ways that you would like to become a stronger one.
I am an advocate. I know I have reached this level of allyship, but having reached it, I also know that it means it is an ONGOING PROCESS!
I have learned and written about privilege, intersectionality, race, and racial trauma in literature for almost 20 years. I spent a long time in the AWARENESS phase, simply teaching traditional concepts and not really amplifying anything beyond traditional texts and token "minority" voices. I slowly had glimmers of how I could be ACTIVE by sharing and championing diversity when I was asked, when it was convenient for the administration, when it was palatable for the dominant groups. I was "admired" for this, and I did it authentically, but I see now that it was not true advocacy. Then I had a breakthrough--really listening to my students of color (this was the key) and doing some more radical intersectional academic work led me to see what it meant to be an ADVOCATE. Amplify non-traditional voices and forms of communication! Interrogate canonical texts and accepted ways of understanding them. Change, remix, revise, radicalize, signify! I could do all these things! I could encourage my students to use what they already knew to do these things, too! And in so doing, I could truly advocate for equality, equity, justice, and FREE CREATIVE EXPRESSION.
The number one way I can be a stronger ally is to TEACH! Either get back in the classroom in a traditional way or find non-traditional ways to share this work. I need to sit down and consider how I can best amplify anti-racism now that I am not in a classroom. I vow to figure this out and start the next level of my advocacy.
