Are you an ally or a co-conspirator in the fight for racial equality?
DEI Dispatch Column by Dr. Dijanna Figueroa and Dr. DJ Kast
In our continual exploration of diversity, equity and inclusion, we decided to look closely at the two words that are connected with this movement: ally and co-conspirator.
NMEA Members Speak Out
We asked members of the NMEA community to define these terms and what they mean in the context of education.
1. What does it mean to you to be an ally for social justice in your field and how?
“I feel uneducated on this. I actively work to be an ally to support my students in whoever they are and whatever they want to achieve. I actively try to teach social justice in my classes. I teach about Henrietta Lacks in AP bio and ask my students to analyze the institutional racism in the book and find other examples of similar issues of ethics related to science. I teach about social justice when we talk about energy and pollution and other environmental issues.”
~Formal classroom teacher
“To strive to provide learning opportunities for minoritized K-12 age students, by providing programming, experiential learning, and active outreach and support to enable successful participation. Working with partners and collaborators of the same ethnic group who are engaged with this student population is an important key for success.”
~Informal marine science program director
“In short, it’s to support those in need (frontline community, underserved, marginalized, etc.), and empower others. This manifests itself through access to programming/opportunities, mentorship, “table setting,” appropriate use of language (gender pronouns, names, etc.), and simply taking the time to recognize, value and give individual members a voice at the table.”
~Informal science educator
2. What does it mean to you to be a co-conspirator for social justice, equity and inclusion and how?
“To find ways/ avenues/ mechanisms to uplift and empower others. Particularly knowing when to step up and when to step back.”
~Informal science educator
“I think being a co-conspirator means doing three things. First, it means you recognize the lack of social justice in the past: the racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic, classist, and many other -ic or -ist practices that have kept science, marine science, and education access from being equitable. Second, it means you want to work to overcome those -isms and the barriers that they have created, even if it means taking a hard look at yourself and your own biases and how to overcome them. This can be really uncomfortable, but is really important and ever-evolving. Third, you have to work towards making the field more equitable. But you cannot work in a vacuum or just because you want to and think it’s a good thing. You have to work WITH those communities that have been marginalized to make the field more inclusive, and find out how they want to be involved and do that. You cannot just involve them how you think they should be. Then you need to raise those voices up in the field, even if, and probably most importantly, it means taking a backseat yourself.”
~Formal classroom teacher
3. Oh snap, what's the difference? What do you think is the difference between an ally and a co-conspirator in the anti-racism realm?
“I consider that “ally,” “partner.” and “co-conspirator” to be the same.”
~Informal Science Educator
“I am not sure I understand the difference—and that probably says it all. We don’t all have personal clarity on the best ways to help and support anti-racism and to avoid adding to the problem. An ally brings to mind personal support (how one thinks and acts) with others. Being a co-conspirator implies to me that it is a more of a direct action role or at least mindset to achieve change.
Being an ally means voicing your support and standing by the side of those who you believe in. But you can be an ally and support someone without doing any work. Being a co-conspirator means doing the work, and then, once you’ve done the work and helped to lift others up with your privilege, you sit back to let them shine.”
~Formal and informal science educator
“Allyship usually peaks at messaging and some visual representation. For me the bridge from ally to co-conspirator shifts when action is taken for the sake of empowering others.”
~Informal science educator
Photo by Tina Witherspoon on Unsplash
Ally vs. Co-conspirator
So let’s take a closer look at these words. To be an ally is to mutually benefit and support the cause. An anti-racist ally recognizes systemic racism and acknowledges that race-based oppression is a real thing. White allies are able to look at their own privilege and examine how their own life experience and positionality has played a role in the oppression of Black, Indigienous, and People of Color (BIPOC) populations.
According to the Racial Equity Tools Glossary,
an ALLY is “Someone who makes the commitment and effort to recognize their privilege (based on gender, class, race, sexual identity, etc.) and work in solidarity with oppressed groups in the struggle for justice. Allies understand that it is in their own interest to end all forms of oppression, even those from which they may benefit in concrete ways. Allies commit to reducing their own complicity or collusion in oppression of those groups and invest in strengthening their own knowledge and awareness of oppression.”
You can level up your allyship by becoming a co-conspirator. To be a co-conspirator means that one chooses to take action against racism regardless of the consequences. To be a co-conspirator is about commitment, trust, and love for the cause. It is about sacrificing your privilege in the battle against racism.
“To be a white co-conspirator means to deliberately acknowledge that people of color are criminalized for dismantling white supremacy. It means we choose to take on the consequences of participating in a criminalized act, and we choose to support and center people of color in the justice movement”
~Violet Rush, Owning the Role of White Co-Conspirator
Allies gather information about the cause and work towards being an anti-racist themselves. Co-conspirators are actively making daily choices and taking steps to eliminate racism. Allies look at their own privilege by learning about it and thinking about the steps that they could do to act against racism. All of these sound positive but it is important to make sure your actions are impactful and have the potential to lead to actionable change. On your quest—you may reach out to BIPOC friends, family and colleagues for their experiential narratives but please don’t ask them to relive their trauma to do this introspective work for you; do the research first and school yourself.
“The only way to undo racism is to consistently identify and describe it—and then dismantle it,”
~Professor Ibram X. Kendi, How to Be An Antiracist
Call to Action for NMEA members:
LOOK:
Look within and examine how you have privilege.
ACT:
Take action and actively work against racist practices, policies, culture, and ideologies.
DISMANTLE:
Disrupt the default mode of institutionalized oppression. Dismantle the structures that were designed for whiteness to gain power by making space for people of color.
TAKE:
Take the leap from ally to co-conspirator in the fight for racial equality.
Let’s level up our commitment to racial equality and recognize where we land on the continuum of ally to co-conspirator.
Join our book club!
How to Be an Antiracist
by Ibram X. Kendi
More information and details will be available soon.
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