The Personal Cost of Allyship and Ethics
What is not often mentioned is that allyship often entails sacrifice
I’m realizing that to be an effective ally, you have to be willing to make a sacrifice on behalf of the people you are siding with. And sometimes — that’s hard.
At the risk of sharing a story that doesn’t put me in the best light, here goes:
I remember sitting in an NYC cab on my way to a conference. I had chosen to fly in the morning of the conference to save on staying in a hotel the night before (because NYC hotels be expensive — especially in Manhattan). I was already gonna be an hour late, not even factoring in morning traffic from LaGuardia to the pier.
I soon discovered that my taxi driver was racist. But it wasn’t towards Blacks. When he drove through Chinatown I asked if there were any cool restaurants here that he’d recommend. He said that the whole section of town was just “garbage”. I later found out he was a Trump supporter (surprise). I spoke very little during the whole ride. I did nothing. I said nothing.
Why? Because I was running late. Because I paid good money for this conference. Because I was uncomfortable. Because I was by myself in the backseat of a car with a man I didn’t know. Because I didn’t know what to do. Because I was a foreign…
