Practical tips on how to be an ally
MAKE A CHANGE!
Every person has equal rights and responsibilities. Everyone has to feel secure and protected and everyone must contribute! Help develop a community where everyone can openly express themselves, free from sexist, racist, homophobic and all the other types of discriminatory beliefs.
Learn About Yourself
To have personal biases is to be human. We all hold our own subjective worldviews and are influenced and shaped by our experiences, beliefs, values, education, family, friends, peers and others. Being aware of one's biases is vital to both personal well-being and to helping your community thrive.
Learn to recognize and understand your own privilege and bias, and how they can assume various and invisible forms! You can start by taking a test at Project Implicit by Harvard University
See also: https://hbr.org/2022/02/are-you-aware-of-your-biases
Acknowledge
When you realize what your personal triggers are—triggers that contribute to the creation of personal biases—you can actively manage, mitigate or avoid them. In the workplace, developing self-awareness helps you navigate potential obstacles to career success. The ultimate goal is to achieve happiness through building and maintaining healthy relationships.
- Acknowledge your privileges
- Acknowledge your bias
- Acknowledge the presence of abuses and microaggressions in your community Be proactive in acknowledging this, even if there are no explicit records
- Acknowledge past failings in a genuine and meaningful way Avoid denial and minimization
Learn About Other People
- Validate the experiences and feelings of people around you!
- Listen to everyone who has something to say: everyone's voice matters!
- Don't interrupt!
- Don't minimise what other people are saying or complaining about
- If the person directly involved is not laughing then it is not a joke: whether it is a joke or not, it is not your decision. Do not use homophobic, sexist, or racist insults
- Don't pretend to presume other people's feelings!
- Avoid assuming someone's gender, sexuality, race, or nationality!
Learn About What You Can Do
- Become an and people around you! ally empower
- Encourage people to ! speak up
- Use your privilege to help in giving a voice to those who lack it
- Be aware of your implicit bias
- Be open to listen
- Practice positive interruptions like "that's an interesting point" or "I am glad you brought that up"
- Challenge the offenders' beliefs and attitudes early on and take a stand against every behaviour!
- Speak up if somebody is being discriminatory!
- Explain that it is not about having an opinion but it is about facing crucial social issues and making our community more inclusive and fair Invite people to and get reflect informed
Encourage other people to take a stand! - Challenge any offensive language
- If you witness any attack, do not sit back and do nothing