I just realized something about white folx and their attachment to the word “ally.”
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I just realized something about white folx and their attachment to the word “ally.”
For many, “ally” is shorthand for “not racist.”
It’s how whiteness signals its values, how you prove to yourself and others that you’re a “good” white person. The problem is that this framing strips away the very foundation of whiteness, racism itself, allowing you to position yourself as hero or victim, but never the villain.
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I just realized something about white folx and their attachment to the word “ally.”
For many, “ally” is shorthand for “not racist.”
It’s how whiteness signals its values, how you prove to yourself and others that you’re a “good” white person. The problem is that this framing strips away the very foundation of whiteness, racism itself, allowing you to position yourself as hero or victim, but never the villain.
This is why any challenge to the mediocre effort that white folx offer in the name of “progress” is met with such ferocity. The myth of white supremacy kicks in, fully operational, defending the narrative that maintains your self-image.
Attack, defend, justify…it all revolves around protecting that illusion.
Being an “ally” in this sense is not neutral.
It’s a performance.
A signal.
A shield.
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This is why any challenge to the mediocre effort that white folx offer in the name of “progress” is met with such ferocity. The myth of white supremacy kicks in, fully operational, defending the narrative that maintains your self-image.
Attack, defend, justify…it all revolves around protecting that illusion.
Being an “ally” in this sense is not neutral.
It’s a performance.
A signal.
A shield.
And the moment someone points out the harm left in the wake of that performance, you can see the myth of white supremacy rise in full force because it knows the stakes:
if you admit complicity,
if you admit that your “goodness” is insufficient,
you can no longer occupy the comfortable story of hero or victim.
You must confront the villain within yourself, and that, for so many of you, is unbearable.
The work isn’t about being an ally.
It’s about being accountable.
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And the moment someone points out the harm left in the wake of that performance, you can see the myth of white supremacy rise in full force because it knows the stakes:
if you admit complicity,
if you admit that your “goodness” is insufficient,
you can no longer occupy the comfortable story of hero or victim.
You must confront the villain within yourself, and that, for so many of you, is unbearable.
The work isn’t about being an ally.
It’s about being accountable.
About moving beyond signaling to action.
Beyond comfort to disruption.
Beyond a title to a practice that consistently confronts who and what whiteness has been and continues to be.
Only then do you begin to step out of the myth and into a space where your actions, real, sustained, and demonstrable, actually contribute to the collective liberation we all deserve.
#LifeBeyondTheSupremacyMyth #MythOfWhiteSupremacy #ProfitWithoutOppression #KimCrayton
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I just realized something about white folx and their attachment to the word “ally.”
For many, “ally” is shorthand for “not racist.”
It’s how whiteness signals its values, how you prove to yourself and others that you’re a “good” white person. The problem is that this framing strips away the very foundation of whiteness, racism itself, allowing you to position yourself as hero or victim, but never the villain.
@KimCrayton1 I'm curious if you've seen "Accomplices Not Allies" what you think of it? -
R relay@relay.mycrowd.ca shared this topic
