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Speech: Please Stop Calling Yourself An Ally

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Please Stop Calling Yourself an Ally I’m going to start this by saying that I don’t consider myself perfect or an ally. I find if I address this first, it limits the angry backlash that accompanies someone taking what they perceive as my “condescension” personally. I’m starting this way because instead of worrying about the title, I want you to worry about women. I want you to worry about black bodies. I want you to worry about something other than your “cred”. Real allies don’t call themselves allies. The title of ‘ally’ is reserved for those who do everything in their power to protect the marginalized in spite of themselves, their privilege, and the ethnocentricity that accompanies their existence. This isn’t a title that you give yourself, it’s one that you earn from your community. Around the time of the Baltimore Uprising, I became involved with a local activist group in Omaha and that made it clear what a bad “ally” I was, in fact I wasn’t an ally at all. I learned firsthand that calling yourself an ally is nothing more than proving that you …show more content…

When you tweet about what a great feminist you are, when you tag #blacklivesmatter, when you call yourself an ally, when you pride yourself on reaching a boob quota for the show you’re booking: you aren’t being an ally, you’re benefiting from the title while doing nothing to promote change. If you’re using your “progressive politics” to gain you visibility or “cred”, but silence those who are actively trying to make change: you are not an ally. In fact, profiting off of your “progressiveness” makes your intention quite clear while making just like any other entitled dude on the street—the only difference is that your entitlement relates to our consciousness more than our bodies. Keep in mind that by making the space unsafe, by allowing it to be infiltrated by men with hidden agendas, you are also putting our bodies in danger. You are no

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