Day 16: Being an Ally

According to Michelle Kim, the Co-Founder and CEO of @ Awaken and a well known Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advocate, to be an ally “is an active and consistent practice of using power and privilege to achieve equity and inclusion while holding ourselves accountable to marginalized people’s needs”. To be an ally you must diligently seek to support marginalized persons, even though you may never fully realize what it feels like to be them. A marginalized person or group is one that is treated as insignificant or peripheral. Within society or a group, to be marginalized is to be unimportant or in a powerless position. Many experts in this field recognize that allyship, the act of being an ally, is not an identity. It is a lifelong process of working toward building an understanding and educating yourself on those individuals or groups that are marginalized. You must actively and intentionally commit yourself to being an ally which is not an easy task.