Don’t Be an Ally, Be an Accomplice

Real advocacy and comfort rarely go hand in hand

Willie Jackson
Forge
Published in
6 min readNov 13, 2019

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An illustration of a character wall-papering a yellow happy face decal over a blue sad face icon.
Illustration: Karen Yoojin

I sometimes introduce myself as a “professional African American” when I travel the country to give ally skills workshops — often while looking out at a sea of white faces.

It’s a joke, of course, but the point is serious. I’m using humor to disarm my audience, and to make some difficult and…

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Willie Jackson
Forge
Writer for

Speaker, Facilitator, & DEI Consultant https://williejackson.com/linkedin