Weekly Newsletter, January 10, 2019
A C C E S S I B L E A L L Y S H I P
New Year, Renewed Commitment
Welcome to 2019, Allies! As I reflect on the past year, a word that comes to mind is tumultuous. In the realm of social justice and human rights it was consistently and relentlessly devastating. While we reflect on such a year I want us to consciously consider how we are going to show up for our anti-racist work in 2019. As we talked about a few weeks ago, true Allyship is not a phase, a fad, or an achievement. It is constant work - work we must remain committed to in the coming year.
In Deepa Iyer's latest article, Saying Goodbye to 2018's Seesaw of Outrage and Numbness, a voice was given to how so many of us felt in the last 375 days.
She states, "Sustaining high levels of outrage, constant vigilance, and short-term cycles of rapid response is unrealistic and unhealthy for us as individuals and community members, and as organizations and movements. At the same time, becoming numb, accepting what is happening as the new normal or relying on spurts of self-care are not long-term options either."
Racism certainly isn't new but for many of us, our efforts to dismantle white supremacy and refusal to be complacent in racism is new.
How do we find balance in our allyship and advocacy efforts that will allow us to be effective long-term? Iyer's graphic below outlines different roles that contribute to equity, liberation and justice. I want us to each consider how we can remain steady allies in 2019. What different roles can we see ourselves playing? How can we show up, expand our efforts, and stay the course even when feeling overwhelmed or exhausted in our individual lives?
Read the full article here.
I encourage you to read the full article and answer the questions at the bottom. Here are a few of the questions that stood out to me:
Who are the people I surround myself with and what roles do they play? How can they hold me accountable in a compassionate way? How can I widen this community?
When (and not if) I make mistakes, how do I acknowledge them and course correct without feeling like I’ve failed?
How do I move through different roles without feeling like I have to pick just one in order to be effective? At the same time, how can I make sure that I’m not a wanderer or a short-term amateur? Or positioning myself as an expert within a silo?
That third question I sat with for some time. Is this newsletter centering my white voice too much? Am I positioning myself as an expert? Is this newsletter a silo?
I think there is potential for the answer to be 'yes' to all three. My ask of all Accessible Allyship subscribers is to continue to provide feedback, tips, revelations, and resources. I do not consider myself an expert, but rather a messenger for expertise and an encourager of accountability.
Weekly Challenge
Today we kick off days 1 - 7 of Layla Saad's Me and White Supremacy workbook. Please make sure you have downloaded the workbook directly from Layla's site. This is private and individual work but we will use this space to hold ourselves accountable to it. Days 1 - 7 are an excellent foundation and expand on some of the concepts we have already covered like White Privilege, White Fragility, and White Exceptionalism. If you are a new subscriber and/or unfamiliar with these terms don't worry - Layla defines and guides you through each of them.
I encourage you to find designated time each night or each morning to do this work. The first time I started this challenge was when she ran it on her Instagram. A colleague tagged me in it. I'm embarrassed to say, I did not commit. I half-assed the challenge in true privileged form. This time around I am whole-assing it and I hope you join me.
We have to remember it is our white privilege that perpetuates racism, and it is up to us to make the time, space, and effort to move beyond our privilege into a space where we can become truly effective allies.
Next Sunday we will review the prompts and teachings of days 1-7. I'm excited to get started with you all.
Advocacy Update: Cyntoia Brown Granted Clemency
It was announced this week that Cyntoia Brown will be granted clemency by Governor Haslam. Thank you to everyone who took the time to call. If you see opportunities for us to take action please do not hesitate to reach out so we can incorporate additional real-time advocacy efforts into Accessible Allyship going forward.
Tip of the Week:
"I think the biggest thing that I've done is change the media I consume, especially when it comes to books. I realized a few years ago that a huge percentage of the books I read were written by white women. So I started consciously steering myself away from books by white women and focusing on reading authors whose identities differed from mine in some way. I especially read a lot by authors of color, and women of color specifically. And just diversifying the perspectives I was taking in has really changed me."
A few of my favorites:
"Sing, Unburied, Sing" and "Salvage the Bones" by Jesmyn Ward
"Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching" by Mychal Denzel Smith
Homegoing" by Yaa Gyasi
- Lindsay P., Brooklyn, NY