What We Need to as non black people in a world that needs to show #BlackLivesMatter

This comes from Indivisible National and I wanted to share it with you in its totality.

Intersectionality & Allyship: The Pitfalls of Allyship
By Regan Byrd Consulting, LLC

1. Defensiveness
1. Examples include: “I don’t understand what I did wrong”; “You misunderstood me”; “You don’t know my experiences”; “This is a distraction, we are losing sight of the real target” (especially common during election season)
1. Unreceptive to criticism
2. We must ask ourselves “what reason do I have to be defensive over this?” before reacting

(Recommended reading: The White Man’s Guilt by James Baldwin)

2. Demanding To Be the Center
1. White people often demand to be in the center of ally activism even though we are not the experts
2. E.g. demanding our individuality to take precedence in a conversation (“Look at me as an individual, not as part of ‘white people’”)
3. White people demanding that they get to decide when racism has occurred

3. Speaking for/Dictating Work in the Community
1. Dictating what the work of the community ‘should’ be
2. Advising the community without being invited to give subject expertise (e.g. legal advice that you may have been asked to provide)
3. Trying to propose actions without knowing the community's plans, what they have tried already, what their priorities are, e.g.: giving feedback and criticism when it is not asked for

4. Virtue Signaling
1. Trying to get the ‘good white-person’ label, often by interjecting virtues you claim to have, unprompted
2. Embeds allyship in character rather than in action

5. Validation Seeking
1. Looking for reconfirmation of being ‘woke’ and a ‘good white-person’ when criticized by a POC for racist words or behavior; (either by asking a white person or a POC who you think will take your side)

6. Expecting Kudos
1. Doing things to get ‘credit’ from the community
2. Performative allyship
3. The Woke Olympics 

7. Favoring Visible Work Instead of the Invisible
1. Only showing up for the fun stuff, rather than the less exciting parts, e.g. knocking on doors, phone banking, testifying
2. Focusing on what you want to do, not where you are most needed, e.g. to provide the unglamorous but important resources such as space, transportation, and child care

8. Avoidance
1. Not intervening as an ally in a situation in which racism takes place in front of you
2. Avoiding difficult conversations because you can afford to

9. No System of Feedback from POC
1. We need feedback to know if we are on the right track, e.g. accountability partners
1. These partnerships must be consensual and compensated
2. Not checking in with people affected by oppression

10. Tokenization
1. Using (physical) proximity to POC as virtue signaling or credentialing, e.g. “I have 2 black co-workers and 1 black friend, therefore I am work and not racist”
2. Looking for a person of color to fill a leadership position in your Indivisible Group in order to check the mark of having a diverse leadership team

11. Appropriation
1. Defined as: involving a cultural artifact containing history and labor, which has been commodified and sold → whereby the profit goes to those who are selling the artifact, not those who worked to produce it and have ties to it → and whereby the original community has no control over the artifact (and how it is being presented and commodified) or the profit made off of the artifact