For white people striving to be effective allies to people of color in the push for racial justice, the pursuit of the “right way” to perform allyship can often be a roadblock to meaningful action.
Two Indianapolis residents who consider themselves white allies shared with the Recorder their approaches to supporting the Black community, and though the approaches differ significantly from one another, the basic tenets are the same: White people have a responsibility to look beyond themselves and transcend any of their own misgivings to critically examine their biases and their privilege and how it impacts people of color.
To that end, Sara Nowlin and her longtime friend Ali Tarter cofounded in July the Indianapolis chapter of the national Standing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) group.
SURJ, which was founded nationally in 2009, aims to educate and activate white people by “calling people in, not calling people out.”
“While in many activist circles, there can be a culture of shame and blame, we want to bring as many White people into taking action for racial justice as possible,” the group’s website says. It continues: “We challenge ourselves and other White people to take risks as well, to stand up against a racist system, actions and structures every day. We know that in that process, we will make mistakes. Our goal is to learn from those mistakes and keep showing up again and again for what is right and for racial justice.”
The whites-only structure of the group has been controversial, and Nowlin said she and Tarter received some pushback after creating SURJ Indy. Nowlin said she has wondered if creating the group was the right thing to do, but she said an experience at a meeting organized by Indy10 (the local arm of the Black Lives Matter movement) makes her more confident in the decision. Though only about a fifth of the meeting’s attendees were white, Nowlin said the white attendees dominated the discussion.
“It was a little bit troubling. … The discussion quickly became about what it meant to be a white ally. Although that is an important discussion, I felt like, why are white people coming into a Black space and dominating the discussion?
“People who really were well-intentioned and wanted to know ‘how can I show up,’ they kind of were showing up in a troubling way in that they were dominating a discussion that was not about them. … That was when I was convinced that there really does need to be a group that’s just for white people.”
Though SURJ Indy is a group open only to white people, Nowlin says they are in contact and consultation with Indy10 and often attend Indy10 events, despite initial “well-deserved skepticism” from the group.
“We want to work in conjunction with them in a way that doesn’t rely on them to figure it out for us, but also recognizing that they know way more than us, for one because it’s their lived experience, and two, because they’ve been organizing for years,” she said.
The national SURJ group works toward that goal with its “Accountability Council” made up of “leaders of color who offer feedback and counsel on SURJ’s strategy, organizing and political direction.”
Nowlin said she and Tarter don’t advocate for people to limit their involvement to SURJ Indy, but rather to use it as “just one space” where they can “reflect on their whiteness and how they contribute to systemic racism.”
So far the group has held three meetings. The next event, a mock Thanksgiving dinner to prepare attendees to talk to relatives about race, is scheduled for Nov. 12.
Marc McAleavey, another local white ally, said he is moved by systemic oppression and recognizes the impact it’s had on the Black community.
“I have always felt, as a human, that it’s my job to do whatever I can to uphold the value of the life around me and to do everything I can to not take away from the life around me,” he said. “In relationship to my Black brothers and sisters, this comes down to doing everything I can to eliminate the oppression and injustice and racism in my life and around me, all the while doing everything I can to use my privilege and to use who I am as a human to make the situation better.”
McAleavey stressed the importance of white people moving beyond conversations with other white people.
“One of the easy pitfalls to make in (being a white ally) is to join forces with people who look like you and move forward together. To me, that kind of defeats the purpose,” he said. “It really starts with becoming friends with Black people. I’m not saying it’s the answer, but I’m saying it’s the start … If I only consulted with other white people, I feel like my perspective would not be full.”
McAleavey is a congregant at Broadway United Methodist Church in the Mapleton-Fall Creek neighborhood, which recently erected a Black Lives Matter sign in the churchyard.
“We wanted to put a sign out because we fully support the Black Lives Matter movement and think it’s important for people to know that,” he said. “It is something a church can do and something that is definitely in line with the teachings of Jesus and the life of Jesus, to take a stand and say that Black lives matter.”
McAleavey recognizes that some people might not be comfortable yet with such public displays of allyship, but he said what matters most is that people try.
“Keep trying at those conversations. It’s going to feel uncomfortable the first couple times you talk about race with someone who doesn’t look like you, but my sense is the people who are most uncomfortable about it are white people,” he said. “The more we practice having conversations about race, the more we have developed strong friendships with people who don’t share the same skin tone or cultural makeup … the more fruitful those conversations can be.”
McAleavey added that it’s important for allies to “not to be paralyzed by the idea that there’s a right and a wrong way” to be an ally, and to have a clear idea of the big picture.
“It’s a continuous process. I don’t think there’s a perfection we’re trying to seek here. It’s an ongoing struggle that we’re going to have in humanity,” he said. “This fight, this pursuit isn’t a small chapter in our lives.”
