Going from Ally to Accomplice
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Being an Ally is equally important as being an accomplice; however, an Accomplice has more power, and here is why. An accomplice uses their privilege to challenge existing conditions at the risk of their comfort and well-being. Whereas an ally might work to make changes on an individual level, an accomplice aims to tackle racial injustices on an institutional level.
Allyship is an active and consistent practice of using power and privilege to achieve equity, inclusion, and justice while holding ourselves accountable to marginalized people’s needs to create an environment where others can feel a sense of belonging. Now, here is how you can get started in transitioning from Ally to Accomplice.
The Ally phase may look like forming a reading group where members will read and discuss a particular work, such as Jared Karol’s A White Guy Confronting Racism: An Invitation to Reflect and Act or Luvvie Ajayi Jones’s Professional Trouble Maker!
Note that this discussion is internal to your workplace – it is not advertised to anyone outside of it. In this way, it functions like reading and reflecting on the book in your capacity.
Many times, this is where the Allyship journey ends.
You read the book (or you read a summary online). Then you join the Zoom or WebEx discussion and leave with great food for thought! You feel open-minded! You are proud of yourself for showing up! Maybe you even contributed to the debate! YAY you!
But…what would it look like if your workplace moved into the Accomplice phase after this discussion?
To do this, that “food for thought” – general takeaways from the reading and suggestions proposed in the discussion – needs to become action points. The central question you should ask is: “How can I make this tip actionable in my workplace?”
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Becoming an Accomplice, also referred to as a co-conspirator, requires more planning and attention to who’s around you. Regarding planning, no one expects you to be an expert on either book here. It’s impossible to become one overnight. But just because you aren’t an expert doesn’t mean there aren’t other people out there who are. So, FIND THEM; there are some people at your institution.
Seek them out!
Can you collaborate with them? Not just on professional development sessions, courses, lecture series, and everything else. Doing so makes it clear that you value their opinions and their contributions. It might feel uncomfortable to yield that power or responsibility to another person, but that’s all part of becoming a co-conspirator. It’s about sacrifice. Another aspect of becoming an Accomplice involves forming meaningful relationships with colleagues from historically excluded groups and listening to them.