Thread by @SeraphimZodiac

I saw a sign yesterday at the #Seattleprotest that I've been mulling over, and I've decided I need to talk about it. This might get long and might be vaguely disorganized, and please bear with me - it's important. 1/22

“Empathy is not allyship.”

One more time for emphasis: Empathy is NOT allyship. 2/22

Bluntly - it doesn’t matter if you feel bad about events or feel pity for the people involved *if you aren’t willing to actively do something about it*. It doesn’t matter. “Feeling bad” about events happening is irrelevant. Feeling bad is the embarrassingly bare minimum. 3/22

Having empathy for people in trouble doesn’t mean a damn thing if you aren’t willing to step up and help make a change, and you *certainly* aren’t an ally of the oppressed. Allyship requires actions to back up words and emotions. 4/22

Of course having empathy is a good thing. Having empathy is the first step towards deciding to take action. Trying to understand what other groups are dealing with is a wonderful thing to do, both for personal growth and for realizing change needs to happen. 5/22

Empathy is how humans relate to one another much of the time - it’s a fundamental aspect of the basically altruistic nature that allowed humans to work together and evolve into a successful social species. 6/22

But only having empathy is not enough.

Acknowledging an injustice is not the same as addressing an injustice. 7/22

Regardless of what group we’re talking about - folks that are brown, queer, homeless, indigenous, fat, disabled, Jewish, or neurodivergent; women; or Black folks - this holds true. It is obvious that these groups face problems specific to them. 8/22

People who belong to multiple categories of oppressions suffer additional intersectional problems unique to them. People outside of an oppressed group can understand that oppression theoretically, but the actual suffering is not something they can genuinely comprehend. 9/22

It's impossible for a white person to truly understand the terror of being pulled over by a cop, but a white person might understand in the abstract that Black folks *are* scared when being pulled over by a police officer, and might feel that’s an awful or regrettable fact. 10/22

But, without *acting* on that understanding, without helping to create a world where Black folks *don’t* feel justified fear for their lives when being pulled over, what does it matter if white folks understand and feel awful about it? 11/22

Some folks sympathized with MLK when he marched, or Jewish people when they were being disappeared by the Gestapo, or immigrant kids in cages, or trans folks being murdered, or or or or or. Great. Grand. Good for them. SO FUCKING WHAT. 12/22

Carrying on with life as if nothing were different, while occasionally stopping to give oneself a timely ego boost about how good of a person they are for feeling bad about the awful things happening in the world, is USELESS. Worse than that, a lack of action is SILENCE. 13/22

Silence ALWAYS helps the oppressor. There is no neutral side here. There's the oppressed and there's the oppressor. If a person isn't *actively fighting* the oppressor, they do nothing for the oppressed and their silence allows the oppressor to gain even more ground. 14/22

Please do not misunderstand me - I am in no way saying that your action MUST BE getting out into the streets and throwing tear gas canisters back at federal stormtroopers. 15/22

There are many other critical actions to be taken - supporting legislation by contacting lawmakers, donating money or supplies to reliable protest-support organizations, filming war crimes as they’re being committed, financially supporting Black-run businesses, 16/22

having hard conversations with family members and friends, educating yourself, and boosting and centering Black voices, to name a few. There is room for everyone in the revolution, and everyone is needed. Yes, everyone. Including you. Especially you. 17/22

Do NOT misunderstand me. If you choose to take no action other than expressing how bad you feel and how change needs to happen - including keeping your “action” to nothing more than sharing things on social media - you are being SILENT and you are supporting the oppressor. 18/22

You are not an ally. 19/22

It’s not too late to change that, to decide that enough is enough and that action must be taken, to get into the street and march, or to build a shield to protect others, or to use whatever other resources you have available to help change the world. It’s not too late. Yet. 20/22

If you feel overwhelmed or uncertain about how you can help, that’s okay. These are scary times. Reach out to any of the organizations making change happen - I promise there are ways that you can take action, no matter what your circumstances are. 21/22

Empathy is not allyship.

Action is allyship.

Be an ally. 22/22

#seattleprotests #portlandprotests #chicagoprotests #nycprotests #dcprotests #BLM