Moving Beyond Performative Ally Behaviors

Looking through my Facebook memories, the following image popped up from 2020. I felt inclined to share it here.

The image from June 8, 2020, a Twitter post from user @aliciatcrosby, says:

Dear White People

We don’t need y’all to performatively wash our feet, cut your hair, wear kente cloth, or do the wobble.

We need you to address your personal complicity in white supremacy & work in solidarity to confront white supremacy in your communities & in the world.

I think about this sentiment often.

Especially when Pride rolls around.

De-Centering White Supremacy during Pride

A wonderful example of the centering of white identity that is ahistorical is the 2015 movie, Stonewall. A re-telling of the riots that occurred outside the Stonewall Inn during the summer of 1969, the movie has a cis, white male protagonist who in the movie is shown throwing the first brick through the bar windows.

Many historical accounts share that the Black and Latino trans patrons riled up the crowd to throw found items into the bar, where the police found themselves trapped during the start of the riot.