Whose Ally Are You Anyway?

I’ve been doing this a while now. By this, I mean navigating the areas of activism, social justice and decolonisation. Not a long while, but long enough that I’ve experienced a fair amount of push back, call-ins, call-outs, attacks and abuse. I have, therefore, developed a great deal of self-awareness about my position within Kimberlé W. Crenshaw’s intersectionality, and my access to and oppression by systemic power. I am usually able to discern pretty quickly whether I need to pause, reflect, change course, seek to repair harm, when I need to stay connected to myself and set boundaries, when I need to acknowledge and process harm being done to me, or when a complex combination of the above is required… Usually.

Recently, something happened that left me spiralling. It caught me off guard in such a way that I was utterly confused about where accountability, harm and repair sat within the situation. At first. In the time since, I have reflected, processed and discussed it with trusted community. And now I’m ready to share it with you.

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