110. One Year Later: Allyship Beyond The Black Square
Summary
What have you learned in the year since George Floyd’s murder? Has your allyship evolved beyond performative activism like posting a black square on social media in solidarity with Blackout Tuesday? Or reflexively adopting initiatives for fear of being “canceled”? A lack of intentionality causes more harm than good, and actions that aren’t 100% aligned with values don’t promote lasting change.
Erica and India take this anniversary to examine the co-opting of Blackout Tuesday’s original intent and offer examples of genuine, supportive actions that imperfect allies can take instead.
In this discussion:
How uninformed use of hashtags and other campaigns distort social media algorithms and drown out the Black and Brown perspectives you wanted to amplify
Are your efforts raising awareness or assuaging your guilt?
Debunking “cancel culture” myths
Calling out urgency, again
Decolonizing your thoughts, actions, and reactions
Why your values must inform your responses
Allyship can be fun!
Keep The Dialogue Going
Stay purposeful! Join us at Pause on the Play The Community for encouragement and accountability. Our vibrant, virtual space is a hub of entrepreneurs and changemakers connecting at the intersection of values and visibility. Receive the guidance you need as well as on-demand tools to support your imperfect allyship.
Article
A lot of anti-racism work has taken place in the year since George Floyd’s murder. But there’s still a lot that needs to be done.
One specific type of action that’s worth revisiting is black square activism. For those that might not know or remember, Blackout Tuesday originated on June 2, 2020, as a way to show solidarity and support for the Black Lives Matter movement. It involved the posting of black squares in place of profile pictures on social media platforms. From Instagram and Facebook to Twitter, the idea quickly gained momentum, spreading to high-profile businesses, brands, and influencers.
Sounds helpful, right? Well…
What’s Wrong with “Black Square” Activism?
“When I realized that this is what was happening,” Erica recalls, “I was like, wait, what the..., what the hell is happening? And, it's a little surreal to think back to the fact that I literally got up that morning, took a shower, and was just kind of like, yeah, I can't leave this like this.”
She took to IG on the same day to post a response on her Instagram account. Her sentiments regarding the flaws in black square activism went viral. “To me, one of the biggest things that came up with it was the fact that it called to the need that so many people had to be active and to do something, yet they didn't know what it was. And so that grasping at straws of what do I need to do, this gave them a way to assuage any guilt. And it gave them a way to feel like they were being in action. But they really weren't, not the kind of action they probably wanted.”
India, too, watched the events on June 2nd transpire and similarly responded via an IG Live, this time posted to the Flaunt Your Fire account. “I was watching the algorithm,” she says. “I was watching what was happening in the social media space, the marketing space, and how people posting these black squares and using certain hashtags was drowning out the messages from the very people that the movement was supposed to be supporting.”
Since the advent of the black square, we’ve seen an abundance of this type of profile picture swaps and hashtag usage in solidarity with marginalized or underrepresented communities. So, what’s wrong with these methods? Honest answers come from more profound questions, starting with our motivation for engaging with solidarity efforts. Are we doing so because we see everyone else doing it? Are we doing it out of fear? Are we jumping in to be part of the activism trend?
Are We Participating Before Investigating?
“We need to ask ourselves if what we're doing is actually a part of our activism and our allyship, or is it being performative,” says India.. “Your visibility is designed to be true to who you are and to be intentional and just doing what you see everyone else doing is not true to who you are as a person; it's fitting in.” To her point, she notes that the words in many of these “supportive” posts are just copy-and-paste versions rather than original thoughts crafted from the heart. As for hashtag usage, India points out that when an algorithm skims social media posts, it’s not only tabulating likes and comments; it’s also picking up variations in the pixels of posted images. “So, when you make a post, when people are used to seeing your beautiful face and hearing your lovely words in the caption, and engaging with what you have to say, and now you post an empty post with only a color, a hashtag, and minimal words or words that they've seen everybody else say, they don't engage with it.”
Your Values, Your Actions
Adopting a hashtag that people from a particular marginalized or underrepresented community use to share urgent information or perspectives when you are not a member of that community inadvertently silences those that are. The rush to be a part of the “action” skews hashtags meant to provide urgent information and perspectives, rendering the hashtags possible spam or unimportant by the algorithm.
“When this happened last year, and there were a lot of people that were doing this, and they were just blanket-following what was an activism moment being co-opted as a trend, is that people also just did it as a reflex,” says Erica, adding, “they're like, ‘Oh, I'm going to react. I'm not going to take the time to respond and make sure I have the information that I need’ because they also kind of left behind the fact that part of what was supposed to be happening was the amplification of Black voices, not just ‘I'm going to go silent and not say anything.’” As a result, “a lot of really vocal, visible people in these spaces all of a sudden said nothing and then left all of the work to the Black people that were already in the midst of active trauma.”
Cancel Culture-Based Excuses
Blackout Tuesday’s ultimate goal suffered from a lack of clarity. By the time it filtered down through multiple social media channels and corporate efforts, the initiative’s result looked nothing like its original intent; it had devolved into a global game of telephone. Black square activism is a sad but accurate example of how no good comes from reactions and responses that aren’t aligned with personal values. Period.
“People were doing all of this posting of this black square, but they didn't know why they were doing it,” Erica says. “So, for a lot of people, it wasn't connected to the values and their entire purpose and who they were supporting.”
“Can we also say that nothing happens until you pause for a moment and use your own brain and think about it?” India adds, referring to the core values process that all Pause on the Play clients participate in as part of their imperfect allyship journey.
Unfortunately, anyone following the trajectory of Blackout Tuesday witnessed a whole lack of deep intentionality at the height of black square frenzy. Worse, many folks who amplified Black voices, Black creators, and Black organizations that week quickly dropped back into business as usual without a second look back. India notes that the misguided action (and weak follow-through) originated from a complete fear of being canceled by an imaginary mob of the Black people.
“Let me just be real clear. This fear that y'all have of Black people canceling y'all,” Erica explains, “if you are so worried about us Black people canceling you, can you have that much fear when our bodies have to be worried about can I make it home? Can you have that much fear when you're worried about if I don't do the right thing with the people that I'm paying and the people that I work with, and, you know, not stealing information that doesn't belong to me, and co-opting it like it's my own? Can you have that same type of energy then, please? Stop worrying about me canceling you - and stop doing fuck-shit. I said it. Stop it.”
The irony, of course, is that while many white-facing (not all white-facing businesses or brands or social media influencers are 100% white, remember) were worried about being canceled by Black folks, their hashtag activism canceled sorely needed access to Black perspectives. “I need for that to be understood,” Erica reiterates, “you actually made it worse.”
“You canceled their voices,” India agrees. “Reacting from fear of cancellation sometimes actually harms the people that you are worried about canceling you.”
There’s a DEI component to the false narrative surrounding cancel culture. “You're saying that you have fear, but yet you're the one that is actually the aggressor. You're the one that's actually creating harm,” says Erica. “If you don't recognize what you're doing, why you’re doing it, who it’s for, and what the outcome is, then there's a problem because, obviously, you don't know what that outcome is going to a hundred percent be, but you do want to at least have an idea.”
Pause long enough before you hit play. Question the actions you're taking. Question your motives for participation. Question the possible outcomes.
Reasons to Remain Hopeful
Not everyone is capable of taking that pause yet. Some people like swimming in ignorance as it allows them to play the victim. It allows them to feign a sense of ignorance around what's happening, where they're wrong, and where they're contributing to the problem. “However, I have been fortunate enough to see what change can look like,” Erica says, referencing conversations she’s had with clients as well as inside Paus On The Play The Community. “It really does inspire me,” she says, adding that she likens her enthusiasm to something comedian Amanda Seales said in response to someone questioning how she could remain so hopeful. “And she says, ‘I don't stay hopeful. I stay purposeful.’ And, I have to say 150% that while there are things that have given me hope, it has given me a reason to stay purposeful. And that was such a huge awareness to kind of really process it that way.”
Erica’s optimism comes on the heels of a months-long stretch after George Floyd’s murder in which she worked herself to the point of exhaustion and burnout. “Not because I didn't want to do it, but because I did! I was just that fucking committed to it that I was suffering just doing so much. And I've learned that I can only do what I can do, and I have to...hold people accountable if that's what you come to me for, and we just have to keep going. And if you don't want to be accountable and you don't want to do the right shit? Thank you, next! Goodbye.”
The boundary-setting has also imbued Erica with a renewed hope. More people have risen to her call for accountability than have chosen to excuse themselves. “I've learned what it looks like to stay purposeful, and it has kept me going.”
A Unique Example of Support
India acknowledges that while she and Erica focus on different aspects within the work that they do together and separately, “It's really challenging to be in the middle of your own trauma response to the Black trauma porn floating around on the internet, the Black experience, and then any additional traumas you might just have because life, and also be trying to support other people through their allyship.”
As a result, she’s taking more care to look after her well-being. “I’ve learned that part of being a great ally for any community, let alone the Black community, meant that I had to take a really hard look at my self-care. I had to double down on that shit and add in all kinds of new tools, new resources, in ways that I'd never done before.”
As energizing as this work is, both Erica and India have experienced the identical downside to being completely lit: insomnia. The restlessness comes as a direct result of being in aligned action with folks who share their passion for imperfect allyship.
“I'm going to raise my hand and say, I also learned that as someone who people may want to be an ally for, because I am still a Black woman, sometimes the things that people can do to support you are actually not the things that you see people saying to do on social media to be a better ally,” India says. To that end, Erica and India give a collective shout-out to Racheal Cook of Promote Yourself to CEO fame for gifting them with a sound meditation from Natasha Freeman at Lucid Living. “Erica and I got the best sleep of our life after that,” she confirms, noting that many folks who are doing this work don’t make enough time for rest.
Experience informs action. Erica and India hired Natasha to create a sound meditation concert specifically for and under the energy of being an ally. The sound bath was explicitly designed to help Pause On The Play The Community members heal overstimulated nervous systems and promote regenerative sleep. “For me, it feels very humbling to know that that's the type of space that we've created for people,” Erica says, highlighting Natasha’s contribution to POTP’s extensive on-demand library.
“And I'll say my lesson is recognizing that I wanted to double-down on anything that I can do to raise awareness, access, and equity or anything along those lines to bring some of these nervous system healing tools to more Black and Brown people,” India says. “But I'm also going to say that extends into any other underrepresented and underserved community, especially communities that have a lot of trauma.”
Providing access to rest is not necessarily the first thing people think about or talk about when they reference allyship. However, with so many Black people forced into the emotional processing of their feelings and traumatic experiences in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, while continuing to show up as the “strong Black person” and mouthpiece for everything that was going on, India says, “I just don't know if I saw enough of people really taking the time to pause and say, ‘how can I support this person's holistic wellness? How can I support this person's mental health, or make sure that additional people within their community have access to that?’”
Or, “how can they just not contribute to the worsening of their mental health by coming and dropping urgency on their doorstep?” Erica adds.
Why do we talk about urgency so often? Because acting as though there's a “constant fire that you're expecting people to put out for you is really harmful and, nine times out of 10, it's not true; that's not a fire.” India says.
Erica offers a more specific take. “[Urgency] is a tool of white supremacy. So, we need to acknowledge that if we're actually trying to decolonize our thought processes in our lives and to change things and dismantle systems of oppression, we have to continue to be aware of where these systems of oppression are being pulled out of our toolbox.”
Imperfect Allyship In Action
What have you learned in the year since Blackout Tuesday? How have you honored your newfound wisdom? “I would love to see you actually integrate what you've learned into your actions, into the things that you do in your day-to-day life choices, to be more of an ally,” India says.
“It does need to be integrated,” Erica agrees. “What I don't want to see people do is to write this out, think about it in their head, be in conversations with others around them, and it just kind of gets left there, and it fizzles out. I would love to see this propel you forward. I would love to see this inspire you as to what's next, how you can make these shifts in the plans that you already have, how you can actually make sure to line up just a little bit more your intent and your impact.”
Here’s an opportunity to continue your imperfect allyship by doing better. “I think it's important to say that, one year later, your allyship can actually be fun sometimes!” says India. “It doesn't have to be this heavy traumatic thing.” The ability to be in community and know the next best action to take to increase awareness, increase impact, and boost visibility for someone else is an uplifting activity; it doesn't have to be this dark thing.
Searching for that next step? Erica advises POTP audiences to circle back to her earlier suggestion: question everything. “Continuously ask yourself why to try to dig a little deeper.” If that exercise doesn’t prompt new insights, assess what you could do differently right now at this moment. “It's time to shift,” she says. “Don't leave it there.”
Quoted
Erica Courdae
“It's not good to react or respond and to not do it from your values.”
“You’re saying that you have fear, but yet you're the one that is actually the aggressor; you're the one that's actually creating harm.”
“I've learned what it looks like to stay purposeful, and it has kept me going.”
“If we're actually trying to decolonize our thought processes in our lives and to change things and dismantle systems of oppression, we have to continue to be aware of where these systems of oppression are being pulled out of our toolbox.”
India Jackson
“People are still using hashtags in solidarity with the communities that they're saying they're allies for and droning out that very community's message.”
“Your visibility is designed to be true to who you are and to be intentional. And just doing what you see everyone else doing is not true to who you are as a person; it's fitting in.
“Reacting from fear of cancellation sometimes actually harms the people that you are worried about canceling you.”
“I think it's important to say that, one year later, your allyship can actually be fun sometimes!”