Michael Knight
@MK1981 · 2:36
#BlackHistoryMonth | What does allyship look like for you in 2024?
I'm talking things that your wildest dreams couldn't conceive of, like food and shelter and just free from struggle, because our technology is getting to the point where we don't have to worry about these things. But right now, we're combating other people's greed and other people's fears, and it's holding us back
R. Porchia
@Block24Media · 0:35
I agree with you 100%. I think allyship is something that we've seen over these decades, but total investment and the marginalized in the black community is something that has been lacking. I think people willing to put their privileges aside in order to see equality has eluded us as a country and therefore prevented us from getting to that emeritocracy that we also dream about. So yeah, I agree with you 100%. It
Natasha Nurse
@DressingRoom8 · 1:30
But what I would say is walking away from the concept or the practice of it in and of itself, to me, doesn't make any sense because that's the prompt itself, right? The question is, what does allyship need to look like for 2024? Quite simply, more action, more impact, more sustainable change, not the removal of it
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Michael Knight
@MK1981 · 2:00
So when I donate to these things or I elevate you or I give voice to you, it's for you. It's not for us. I need people to realize that the situation that we're in, just because marginalized people, black, brown, whatever identifier you want to use, are suffering first does not mean that we will not all suffer together
Natasha Nurse
@DressingRoom8 · 2:00
I did hear you, and I still disagree because you are defining allyship as if your only interpretation of allyship is the truth for allyship, for everyone. How you're interpreting allyship is not how I would interpret it, nor as a DEI professional would I be able to even stand behind. Because. Because allyship is not the act of doing a favor for someone else
Michael Knight
@MK1981 · 2:39
And I think if that framework is pushed more so than the idea that you're doing something for me and not for yourself, because at some point people will get exhausted, at some point people will look at as not my problem. I've seen this happen so many times, we're even witnessing it right now in corporate, like, a lot of people in the DEI space are being let go from their jobs because corporations no longer see the value, especially in lean times
aqiylah collins
@qitowellness · 1:30
So the nature of allyship is acknowledging and empathizing with a cause and then aligning yourself in the form of effort, opportunity, money, policy changes, et cetera. And so I think more of that is needed. I don't think that allyship is something that we need to go away. It's definitely people who are allies have opportunities to move the needle on things for black people in ways that black people themselves may not be able to do. So I think it is a necessary thing