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Being a White Ally — Part 2
White allyship is continually evolving and that’s a good thing.
My first curated piece on Medium was titled Being a White Ally, a story in which I try to distinguish between white people and people who happen to be white. I make the argument that “there is a very clear distinction” between the two groups and that “people who happen to be white create and support spaces for people of color to speak their truths uninterrupted by white privilege, guilt, or tears.” I no longer believe there is a difference between white people and those who happen to be white. There are simply white people who fight racism and those who don’t.
Being a white ally goes so far beyond understanding the power of your whiteness and using it to uplift and aid in the advancement of Black people and people of color. Being a white ally means acknowledging that your skin color enables racism even when you are actively working against the system. It forces you to understand that supporting from the sidelines is not enough. And that even when you are supporting on the frontlines, you must contemplate in what ways that support leans into white saviorism.
No white person happens to be white, they just are. Just as no Black person happens to be Black, we just are. The problem with putting white people into two groups — white people and…
