ppkey: These are just 5 basic steps to becoming a good ally, but there’s a lot more you can
ppkey: These are just 5 basic steps to becoming a good ally, but there’s a lot more you can do to improve and grow. I’d love to continue the conversation and hear your thoughts on being an effective ally. 1. Learn how to listen. There’s a big difference between hearing someone and listening to them. If a friend or family member is telling you something - especially something personal - you’re going to need to do more than smile and nod. Active listening involves asking questions to make sure you understand. 2. Educate yourself. When you’re an ally, education never stops. It’s your responsibility to keep learning and growing, not the sole responsibility of the community you’re working to support. 3. Accept your mistakes. Because there’s always more to learn, there’s always going to be something you don’t know. This inevitably means you are going to mess up and that’s okay, provided you learn from it. 4. Come to terms with your biases. Everyone - even leading feminist, LGBTQ, and civil rights activists- have biases. Recognizing them and working through them is necessary to activist work. Understandably, this can be a very emotional process, which is why it’s so vital to keep educating yourself and accepting your mistakes. 5. Recognize that there are spaces inside communities you do not belong in. As an ally, you are a supporter of a movement, but you do not experience the particular institutionalized discrimination that marginalized community experiences everyday. This is what is meant by privilege. Therefore, communities may want or require safe spaces and it’s your job to respect that. More on Allies: So You Call Yourself an Ally: 10 Things All ‘Allies’ Need to Know 5 Tips for Being an Ally from chescaleigh (this video is fantastic, please watch it) -- source link
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