By DEEPTI HAJELA and LEANNE ITALIE
Photo from Associated Press
SURJ co-founder and current Leadership Team member, Carla Wallace, was quoted in the Associated Press, speaking to why we must re-think the concept of “white allyship”:
“In this moment, white silence is the greatest impediment to those in power making the changes that are needed,” Wallace said. “I don’t use the word ‘ally’ because that tends to create a situation where I’m helping someone else.”
It’s not her help that’s needed, she said.
“It’s about me joining whatever power I have with the power that black and brown people have. It’s about, what is our mutual interest in working for a different society? … We must move from it being something that we do when we have time on a Saturday to something that we do because our lives depend on it.”