Allies and Social Change

Allies and Social Change
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Allies are people who are aware of the deprived privileges a section or the whole society are faced with due to the injustices by the elite faction and take responsibility to reverse this order or state. Allies may include the white people who acknowledge there is racism and take bold steps to end the practice, men who preach against sexism and gender violence, and also the wealthy people who fight for the rights of the poor in the society (Kozol, 2005). Becoming an ally is a daunting process that may be as a result of undergoing an unworthy experience, for example, seeing racists’ chants against a close friend. In transforming oneself into an ally, the basic steps usually involve
Understand what an ally is and define your role as an ally in a situation like campaigns against sexism or racism
Understand the risks and challenges involved in becoming an ally in your community
Making a firm decision to become one
Seek out the actions you will undertake as an ally
To get started as an ally, you have to know the issues at hand, its genealogy in your community and the obstacles involved. Understanding the history of these issues will make you a responsible and conscious ally. Normally, everyone has his own culture and perspective towards sexism or even racism. Knowing oneself and understanding the issue at hand will catapult you to the goal you envision as an ally. Technically, achieving this feet may be painstakingly long and sometimes you may suffer terrible consequences like jail terms or being looked down upon by the society; this may dishearten an ally but the hope and the vision of your results will take you through these experiences (Kozol, 2005). Building solid relationships with your group you are working with is necessary as the level of trust is dependent on this. Strong relationships would increase commitment to the movement contributing to its success. One has to be ready to take make mistakes and to keep on trying in the process of being an ally; sometimes being an ally means that you do not understand the hardships you would face, so you have to keep on asking questions or guidance and also keep abreast with the latest practices for better results.
Consider the marginalized less educated factions in the modern America. Many Americans who still live far from the vicinity of urban centres have no or less experience about urban public institutions and the realities involving racial segregation in the past years (Kochhar). It has been believed to be on the decline, but racial segregation is slowly but surely taking roots in the modern America. Consider the Chicago case, where a major percentage of the students enrolled to the university are Blacks and the Hispanics with the remaining fraction shared by other groups like the internationals and the whites (McIntosh). Even so, these statistics cannot deeply portray what the poor and segregated children living beyond the vicinities of major cities. The same can be said of institutions or neighborhoods majorly inhabited by the white population as racism is prevalent in such situations.
Earlier during our growth years, we are exposed to inaccurate information about other races conside...