Being an Ally.

4/21/09

Allies. It's something that I most commonly heard when IWU Pride Alliance had posters around campus (that said LGBTA - or something of that nature). I never really had a definition of it, but I vaguely knew about what it entailed. It was someone from a dominant group who supported a minority or someone frequently discriminated against. After reading Ayvazian's "Interruption the Cycle of Oppression: The Role of Allies as Agents of Change," I realize how important allies are in fighting "-isms." She explains that it is when allies get together and say "No" is when real history starts to change.

"'When a critical mass of white people join together, rise up, and shout a thunderous 'No' to racism, we will actually alter the course of history" (600).

From a historical context, this is so true, and it's nothing I have ever even considered before. Take the right to vote, for example. The people who actually made the change had to be White men to allow people of African descent (and later, women) the right to vote.

People in the minority position, however active they may be in fighting racism, will only succeed so long as the people in power (Whites) support the view. Because, that just makes logical sense - those in power are the ones who make the changes in our country.

Although it is a very difficult task, I definitely think it is possible to make big changes to fight racism. The article showed the same results as our class earlier this year, when asked to name some prominent White anti-racists. Almost no one could name any (in our class, or in the example class in this article) (601). Maybe this says something about our education - that either students are not learning about White people who are actively anti-racist in history classes or, they are and it's more difficult to remember. I think it might have something to do with social psychology that the words "White" and "racist" go better together than "White" and "anti-racist." So White racists may be more easily remembered than White anti-racists such as Lucretia Mott or William Lloyd Garrison.

But, something I worry about, in my role as an ally is the difficult work. Ayvazian discusses that a lot of times you don't seen the effects of your hard work, or sometimes you lack a support system. Personally, I am more worried about the latter. Due to the responses I have received in the past semester, when I bring up these topics, it worries me that I will have no outlet (as I did in this class) to tell about my experiences and talk about how they have affected me.

A really great quote that the author brought up in this text that really stuck with me was:

"I will act as though what I do makes a difference." - William James.

Its a good quote to keep you motivated and keep you working toward a goal, even if you don't see the results right away. The more you work at something, the more likely you'll see results down the road. It's something I'm going to have to work on. I feel as though this class really did change me, and I would like to continue that into the future, but it's going to be hard.

Which makes me think of my action plan: I'm REALLY excited about it. I can't wait until we finally get to submit our proposal to Dr. Folse next fall. I really hope "Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?" gets chosen for the first year summer reading book. I think we have a good shot at it, but I don't want to get my hopes up too high. AND how flippin' cool would it be to have Dr. Tatum come to IWU to talk about this topic. It would be awesome.