Anti-Racist Ally

An Introduction to Action and Activism

Sophie Williams

• Publisher: HQ
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9780007985128
• eBook ISBN:
  9780007985135
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Personal Success
• Index: Social Sciences

'Gives you the information you need to begin, or continue, your understanding of what it means to be a true anti-racist ally' Pippa Vosper

Do you want to be an anti-racist ally? 

This punchy, pocket-sized guide shows you how, whether you're using your voice for the first time, or are looking for ways to keep the momentum and make long lasting change.

Sophie Williams' no-holds-barred posts about racism and Black Lives Matter on @officialmillennialblack have taken the online world by storm. Sharp, simple and insightful, they get to the heart of anti-racist principles and show us all how to truly be better allies.

Now, in her iconic Instagram style, this pocket-sized primer unpacks complex topics into their most important concepts, and provides a crucial starting block for every anti-racist ally.

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1.

NOT BEING RACIST IS NOT ENOUGH

‘I’m not racist’ is a good place to start, and I presume if you’re reading this you’re not a racist person, which is great. But I’m sorry to say, this really is the absolute bare minimum.

When people say they’re not racist, they’re usually thinking something along the lines of, ‘I see everyone the same, and I would never discriminate against someone based on the colour of their skin’.

But what they’re not thinking about is being actively anti-racist.

Not being racist is the right foundation, but it’s a passive state. It’s not allyship. To be an effective anti-racist ally, we all need to be actively anti-racist.

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WHAT IS ANTI-RACISM?

Anti-racism is not about seeing and treating everyone in exactly the same way. Instead it’s about understanding the different experiences, perspectives and (dis)advantages of people from different groups, and working to overcome them.

Anti-racism doesn’t gloss over our differences or whitewash the experiences of others.

Anti-racism is about refusing to turn a blind eye when we see discrimination. It’s about taking an active stance in our daily lives, calling out every joke, offhand comment, and act of injustice.

Anti-racism is not about self-improvement: being a better person is not the end goal. It’s about creating a fairer society for marginalised people, which is a better world for us all.

Anti-racism, and working towards being an anti-racist ally, isn’t easy, and it can be uncomfortable or even scary, but it’s the only way we’re going to make progress.

So let’s get going.

RACISTS ARE BAD PEOPLE. I’M NOT A RACIST

The conversation around racism that most of us have heard since childhood is usually pretty one-dimensional.

Very black and white.

Racism is bad.

People who are racist are bad people.

And you are a good person, so you are not racist.

Since childhood we have been building up our personal mental images of ‘a racist’ – someone who is uncaring, violent, dangerous, hateful. You’d know one if you saw one and you’d definitely never be one.

But it doesn’t quite work like that in practice.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it’s not true that racism is bad (I can’t believe I just had to say that), but I’m also saying that the conversation is more nuanced than that simple good/bad binary leaves space for.

Instead of helping marginalised groups, this good/bad, black/white binary has made it really difficult for us to find the grey when we come to examine our own lives, actions and the systems that have benefited us along the way.

ISN’T RACISM OVER?

The reassuring thing about the idea of racist people being 80s skinheads or members of the KKK dressed in white robes is that they’re easy to spot. If you find yourself burning a cross in a white hood one day, you might have accidentally become ‘a racist’. If you beat up people from other races in the street or refuse to hire someone because of the colour of their skin then, uh oh, you got racist.

The reality is, that’s just not what the majority of racist actions really look like in 2020.

Culture and society have both changed, and that means so have people’s expectations and views of what is socially acceptable. In response, racism has had to find new, more coded and less overt ways to exist.

Being less overt doesn’t mean it’s less bad, it just means that it’s more slippery, harder to identify, harder to report and harder to point to.

Modern racism is still dangerous, systemic and structural. It still kills people, takes away their rights, their dignity and their chance of having a fair shot at the lives we all deserve and that many take for granted.

I’M COLOUR BLIND, I TREAT EVERYONE THE SAME

Maybe you’re not actively anti-racist, but you’re not racist. In fact, you’d go as far as to call yourself colour-blind. You treat everyone exactly the same, just like everyone else should.

When people claim ‘colour-blindness’ or that they treat everyone the same, it’s usually from a place of good intentions. However, this is generally something people from marginalised ethnic groups don’t say because they know that though individuals might strive for this, the reality is simply that society as a whole does not do this.

A one-size-fits-all, ‘colour-blind’, ‘I treat everyone exactly the same way’ approach overlooks an important factor: intersectionality. (See here to learn more about intersectionality and why it matters.) Let’s be honest with ourselves, structures were not built with equality for everyone in mind.

This means that, in practice, treating everyone the same leads less to equality and more to erasure, as we often leave the most marginalised people vulnerable to falling through the cracks.

A more inclusive approach is to recognise people’s differences, to be good allies to them and to understand them as whole people.

I DON’T REALLY THINK ABOUT RACE VERY OFTEN

Going through life without thinking about, or being made aware of your race, is a privilege.

Marginalised people are aware of their race every day in a huge number of different ways.

• We have grown up with societal images of beauty that don’t reflect us.
• We are reminded of our race by others when security guards follow us around shops for the crime of being a customer.
• We research places that we want to travel to, taking into consideration whether we will be safe and treated with respect.
• We are aware that if we call the police to protect us, we risk putting ourselves in more danger.

I CAN’T BE RACIST. MY WIFE/HUSBAND/BOSS/BEST FRIEND/DENTIST IS BLACK

‘I can’t be racist because this or that person I know is Black’ is something I’ve heard time and time again.

Let me be clear here: your proximity to non-whiteness does not give you a free pass.

It never has, and it never will.

People from marginalised backgrounds are not accessories that can be used or pointed at ‘prove’ your anti-racism. We understand that misogynists date and marry women, and have other women in their lives who they care about, maybe even love and respect. This doesn’t mean they’re not misogynistic.

The same is true for racism.

You can have marginalised people who are close in your life and still be racist.

The only thing that can show your anti-racism is the active anti-racism work that you do and the stands that you take.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Note to Readers
• Contents
• Introduction
• Discussion of terms
• 1. Not being racist is not enough
• 2. Become an anti-racist ally
• 3. Let’s talk about intersectionality
• 4. What does racism look like now?
• 5. Allyship anxieties
• 6. Start with yourself
• 7. Become an ally in your social circle
• 8. Become an ally in your workplace
• 9. Become an ally at home and in your communities
• 10. Become an economic ally
• 11. Keep up the momentum
• Further reading
• Endnotes
• About the Publisher