Michael Skolnik is an amazing person who does incredible antiracist ally work. Today he published his White Ally Playbook. In addition to being a great primer that I can send to others, it also hipped me to the universally applicable Ally Commandments by the (equally fantastic) journalist and scholar Professor Melissa Harris-Perry. They are as follows:
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Don’t demand that those you are supporting produce proof of the inequality they are working to resist.
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Do recognize that the shield of your privilege may blind you to the experience of others of injustice.
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Don’t offer up your relationship with a member of the marginalized group as evidence of your understanding.
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Do be open to learning and expanding your consciousness by listening more and talking less.
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Don’t see yourself as the Kevin Costner in Dances with Wolves. Or Tom Cruise in The Last Samari. You are not the savior riding to the rescue on a white horse. Do notice that you are joining a group of people who are already working to save themselves.
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Do realize the only requirement you need to enter ally-ship is a commitment to justice and human equality.Can someone etch these onto a large stone tablet for me?
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