Inclusion And Being An Ally (interview by the Coworking Values Podcast)
Welcome everyone to the Coworking Podcast. In light of the recent events, with racism, police brutality and of course, it so happens June is also about Pride month. For this episode, our guest is Anaia Daigle of the Indy Hall team from Philadelphia, USA.
Anaia will be talking about how it is to be an ally and be part of the resisting movement against racism. And how being an ally is not just calling out people about their racism or homophobia but also having to teach and learn how to be a more understanding and accepting community.
She also shares about how their team at Indy Hall is doing all they can to educate their community and be more inclusive.
What’s the difference between an ally, and maybe say a sympathizer?
That’s a great question. I think ‘ally’ is the most general term we have to describe somebody who is willing to actually change something in their personal life in order to move towards a more peaceful and just world, for the immediate benefit of people who experience different things than the ally. So straight person who can be an ally to queer people, a white person can be an ally to people of colour.
Very generally, being an ‘ally’ is caring about issues that do not Immediately affect your personal life. When you take that farther, and what I think ‘ally’ should mean, is someone who is willing to challenge ideas of racism and other ideas that keep marginalized people marginalized in cultural and systemic ways.
Being an ‘ally’ should mean being willing to challenge those ideas, and actually make personal sacrifices to meet those challenges.
