Allyship (& Accomplice): The What, Why, and How

Allyship can be practiced by many, in addition to cisgender, straight, white men. We all have multidimensional identities that provide us with both marginalized and privileged experiences. For example, while all women are subject to sexism and misogyny in the U.S., cisgender women do not face transphobia that trans or nonbinary people experience on a daily basis. In order to practice allyship, cisgender women can normalize the behavior of not making assumptions about one’s gender identity by <a href="https://medium.com/awaken-blog/pronouns-101-why-they-matter-and-what-to-do-and-not-do-if-you-misgender-someone-cfd747c762d1" rel="noopener">proactively sharing their pronouns</a>, so that trans and nonbinary people aren’t the only ones shouldering the burden. Even though all people of color face racism in the U.S., Black and Indigenous people <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/11/10/us/native-lives-matter/index.html" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">face the highest rates of police brutality</a>. Knowing this, white people and non-BIPOC (Black, Indigenous People of Color) can practice allyship by being in closer proximity to police at events, witnessing and recording police interactions with Black people, or joining anti-police brutality demonstrations or protests, etc. <a href="https://medium.com/awaken-blog/allyship-vs-accomplice-the-what-why-and-how-f3da767d48cc">Website</a>