my buddy and ex-roomie @zarzarbinkss and I had a conversation about "white allyship" a few weeks ago, namely a/b how many of white ppl marching w/ #blm around police brutality are the same white ppl that are the main benefactors/actors of gentrification in CoC .... (1/many)

Following that convo, Alazar asked me to put some of our thoughts down on twitter... so here we go.... (2/many)

1- Allyship is understanding that due to systemic oppression, our society is inherently biased towards people that are 1) white, 2) male, 3) Christian, 4) straight and 5) wealthy. - the more of these characteristic you have, the more inherent privilege you have in the US (3/many)

Every single one of the US's founding fathers had all five of these characteristics- systemic oppression stems from this - Our country purposefully built a system that would prioritize the comforts of wealthy white people over the needs of anyone else.. (4/many)

Every push for social change has been a battle against this inherent monopolization of power held by people with these characteristics. Emancipation, womens suffrage, the civil rights movement & the lgbtq equality movement, etc. all push against that initial hegemony 5/

2- That's why showing up to a march, or posting on social media, or just addressing police violence against CoC isn't allyship.

Allyship requires you to use your privilege to stand w/ CoC to change the systemic oppression of CoC POWER (6/)

3- Part of being an ally is understanding that systemic racism was born out of & continues, when white ppl prioritize their own comfort over the humanity /equity of PoC.
(7/)

You're not an ally if you have a "hate has no home" here sign in your front yard, but live in an all white community because "the schools are good"

You're not an ally if you bitch about your property value when they want to build affordable housing or apts on your street. (8/)

4- Allyship requires more than outrage over police murder. It requires actions to address the underlying power dynamic that has allowed wealthy white people for centuries to profit off the backs of brown and black people. (9/)

5- CoC know more about what's needed in CoC than you . This is important and can't be overstated - NO ONE WANTS TO BE YOUR CHARITY CASE -
stand in solidarity WITH - use your inherent privilege to change the power dynamic. of the struggle. You're not there to play the hero. (10/)

6- Being an ally means looking at all issues through the lens of equity- Police won't start valuing black lives until our entire society starts valuing black lives. (11/

This includes economic issues - American capitalism was built on the premise that the profits of wealthy white folks matter more than the lives of PoC.
To this day, our status quo is still this. (12/)

An unregulated free market itself is inherently racist- structural racism gives a competitive advantage to anyone that has the five characteristics of our founders. Saying you prefer to have less "red tape" in order to ensure business is thriving means you are prioritizing.. (13/

7 - Stop prioritizing white comfort & white profit over black and brown lives. Look at EVERY. SINGLE. ISSUE. through this lens when you're talking politics & voting... we have disparity by design.
(14/)

Legalized Marijuana - White businesses are making millions a year while black and brown people are still in prison for doing the exact same shit. - #BLM

Healthcare - Access to quality care for CoC is limited by our private healthcare system due to structural racism - #BLM (15/

Schools. Housing. Roads. labor laws. Market regulations. drug costs. etc. etc.

every single political issue benefits white supremacy if it's left to business as usual. That's why it's structural racism.

If you want to be an ally, you have to want to undo that structure. (16/

8 - This is true in your personal life as well. When someone says something racist, or is promoting some bullshit idea, CALL THEM OUT ON IT - none of the "i don't feel comfortable, they're my friend..." bullshit.

Your comfort is not more important than equity.

Tl;DR - Allyship requires white folks to not just understand their privilege, but to actively push against the inherent white supremacy systemically built into every corner of american life by our founders.

To be an ally, you have to use your inherent power.

I'm not trying to make this a "liberal purity test" or become a pissing match.

But an ally is an ally, even when it's not convenient for you to be an ally.

And that's tough - no one wants to spend countless hours thinking about the most moral way to purchase toilet paper...

But that's what it's going to take.. Systemic racism, sexism, oppression, inequity are not flaws in the system-they're part of the system's designs. If we're going to address the byproducts of this design, like police brutality, we need to address the design itself.

To beat systemic racism, we're going to need to be systemic in our resistance. Fight inequities everywhere you see them, b/c everytime you don't, there are supremacists, whether they're wearing a white hood or running a fortune 500 company, that will act against your "allies".

And if you're not standing with your allies then, then they aren't actually your allies. -- fin.