White Allyship Means a Transfer of Power

George Floyd. Rayshard Brooks. Elijah McClain. Breonna Taylor. Eric Garner. The list goes on. Public reaction to the regular murder of Black people by police has transitioned from devastation to mass outrage. Today’s racial justice movement has regalvanized the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement that began after the 2013 acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of 17-year old Trayvon Martin. Solidarity actions have erupted internationally. The conspicuous shift in public opinion on issues of race, branded in 2019 as the “Great Awokening,” has reached an all-time high with protests in over 140 US cities after Floyd’s murder of May 25, 2020. But will the current resurgence in protests lead to enduring change?

With expectations for meaningful police reform exhausted due to successive failures, current demands are to defund police. This involves a significant reduction of public funds to end, for example, the provision of military weapons to municipal police departments. It also involves the diversion of public funds from police toward social services and communities in need. With substantial investment, long-neglected organizations run by and for Black people may decrease racialized inequalities in income, jobs, health, food security, housing, education, and other areas required to sustain collective well-being.

 

These demands are being heard. Minnesota’s governor called a special legislative session to curb police abuses as the city of Minneapolis considers defunding, an agenda shared by at least 16 cities in the U.S. New York lawmakers banned police chokeholds as did Los Angeles, where police misconduct cases are burgeoning. Other cities are limiting the powers of local police and criminalizing those who use lethal force. These include the protection of whistleblowers and the removal of protection from police involved in wrongful injuries. IBM will no longer sell facial recognition (FR) products, and the leading maker of police body cameras banned the use of FR in its products.

 

Outcomes of the racial justice movement have gone well beyond police defunding. Large corporations, political parties, universities, local governments, faith groups, media outlets, and other organizations have issued anti-racism statements. The National Football League now accepts players’ political protest. NASCAR banned the Confederate flag, and driver Bubba Wallace will compete in a car painted with Black Lives Matter. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are directing major funding to anti-racism organizations. At Facebook, the decision was stimulated by the loss of billions of dollars of advertising revenue from hundreds of advertisers, including multinationals like Coca-Cola, Pfizer, and Unilever.

Some school boards have eliminated the presence of police. White editorial staff at major newspapers have been reassigned. Monuments celebrating confederation leaders are falling. Confederate flags are being removed at the U.S. Marine Corps and the Navy. Statues of colonial leaders were toppled in the U.S., New Zealand, Belgium, and England. The archbishop of Canterbury declared that Jesus was not White. Merriam-Webster is expanding the definition of racism. The American Medical Association pronounced racism a public health issue in need of eradication, especially in policing. A group of about two dozen Democratic congress members kneeled in the Capitol’s Emancipation Hall in tribute to George Floyd. The momentum of reckoning is strong and palpable.

Public opinion is turning. Survey research firms like Civiqs and the Democracy Fund show a majority of Americans have unfavorable views of the police, recognize systemic racism, and support the racial justice movement. More people are concerned about police brutality against Blacks than they are about violent protests.

A salient feature of these actions is the mix of participants. Black, Brown and White, rich and poor, students and workers, urban and rural, conservatives and socialists are sharing messages of anti-racism. One study estimates between 53 and 61 percent of protestors in three cities are White. Cross-sectoral support, especially from those whose interests are perceived to be at risk in the matter, is an integral component of social change.

Having made inroads by social media influencers and seasoned activists, suddenly, it is ordinary White people who are critical of White privilege and power. Discourse has moved beyond White defensiveness and offers remarkably little compassion for Whites’ preoccupation with guilt, shame, or self-image. White support for Black Lives Matter and parallel organizations seems to have gone mainstream potentially signaling a new political status of anti-racism…or not.

While demonstrations continue on the streets, most activity occurs online. Articles, blogs, memes, and tweets encouraging White allyship circulate freely. Many observers regard actions concentrated online as having little impact. Whether described as performative allyship, optical allyship, or clicktivism, they function to appease White individuals’ conscience. While public declarations of anti-racism are better than silence, many sources make concrete recommendations for a more engaged participation, including advocating for grassroots organizations, lobbying political leaders, or donating funds. While undeniably valuable, these actions are individual in nature. They carry few if any risks for Whites and no responsibility for follow-up on a structural level.

This sparkling moment triggered by BLM and its diverse allies has led to critical changes. Until leadership, power, resources, and rewards are fairly distributed to those who are most affected by the inequitable impacts of economic and political decisions, there can be no sustained dismantlement of White supremacy. It is uncertain whether this could occur through voluntary benevolence or as a result of sweeping economic reform, as a concession to unending popular uprisings or through forcible removal in a revolution. However, until White political leaders, policymakers, business and community leaders withdraw their power and transfer it to racialized people, the gains made on the streets will be limited. To ensure concrete and permanent improvement to systemic inequalities, the racial justice movement must lead to a transformation in the exercise of power.

 

One salient measure of influence, status, resources, and power is racial representation in leadership positions. We do not assume a simplistic relationship between the presence of racialized leaders and robust anti-racism practices. Simply installing Black individuals in powerful positions is no guarantee of systemic change. Indeed, the role of such persons is often tokenistic, a symbolic gesture that an organization has achieved its diversity and inclusion (D & I) goals. Nonetheless, representation is a vital factor in the meaningful implementation of anti-racism policies.