as small as a world and as large as alone

12:53pm April 30, 2014

realsocialskills:

tiraspark:

Real situations are complicated

realsocialskills:

Anonymous asked realsocialskills:

I don’t think allies /ever/ need more support than the marginalized group? Yes, allies need support sometimes. But not as much as the people actually dealing with the oppression.

realsocialskills said:

In a general sense, I agree with…

tiraspark said:

I think the type of support needed changes, though, depending on if a person is part of an oppressed group or not. Like, getting fired for supporting a group of people feels very different from getting fired for being a type of person. Both are bad, both can completely wreck a person, but the type of support needed is probably different.

Also, folks can be allies and oppressed in other ways.

So like, a cishet guy may be an ally to my queer group, but also be disabled and need support in that sense. And support in being an ally (like his disability may mean he can’t speak up and call people out verbally, but in written or signing format he can, etc)

realsocialskills said:

I agree with all of this.

To put my initial point more clearly though, I think it is important for activist communities to understand that:

• Allies matter, and they are part of the communities of people who fight a particular evil
• Allies put themselves on the line for us
• They pay a price for standing with us
• And, sometimes, that means they need help dealing with the consequences
• When people have our backs, we need to have theirs, to the extent that we can without undoing the work we’re fighting to do
• Ally concerns should not become central in the community
• Fighting evil comes first
• But allies matter, they’re part of the community, they pay a price, and sometimes they need support, and it’s possible to give it without centering ally perspectives in activism

67 notes