"Your Solidarity Shouldn't Follow the News Cycle" (August 2020)

"Your Solidarity Shouldn't Follow the News Cycle" (August 2020)

news media
white allyship
george floyd
Jacob Blake

English

The slideshow is a first iteration of a graphic that illustrates degrees of allyship performed by white people compared to major news events. It tracks from May 25, 2020 (police killing George Floyd) to August 23, 2020 (police shooting Jacob Blake).

@norajmaxwell

2020-08-29

Instagram

"Your Solidarity Shouldn't Follow..." iteration 2 TBA
"Your Solidarity Shouldn't Follow..." iteration 3

Matthew Salzano

2. may 25th George Floyd is killed by police officers 
91 days elapsed between the start of the George Floyd protests — the catalyst for most white folks' commitmetn to allyship and antiracism — and the shooting of Jacob Blake. 
august 23rd Jacob Blake is shot 7 times by police officers 
3. let's do a quick exercise.
4. this color represents a day that you pracitced your best version of allyship. this color represents a day that you didn't do anything to advance antiracism or practice allyship. 
5. using those two anchors, think about the gradient of your allyship. 
6. this is the trend in white people's allyship that i've noticed over the past 91 days. 
7. most major news outlets stopped covering the George Floyd protests as headline stories aroudn this time (june 7th - june 28th) 
8. your solidarity shouldn't follow the news cycle. 
9. your solidarity shouldn't require the witnessing of another viral video of a Black person being injured or murdered. 
10. your solidarity shouldn't be predicated on the loss of another Black life.

your solidarity shouldn’t follow the news cycle.

swipe 👉🏽 for a quick exercise, or head to my story to watch in its entirety. if your allyship is strongest the week or so after a major news event like Jacob Blake’s shooting, then fades away over the following weeks, you’re likely in the cycle of reactive solidarity.

reactive solidarity is shocked by each new act of police brutality and calls for the police officer to be fired. reactive solidarity can’t believe “this stuff is still happening.” reactive solidarity is fueled by shock, fear, guilt, and outrage.

proactive — or ongoing — solidarity understands that acts of police brutality will continue until the white supremacist and racist systems upon which policing is built are dismantled. ongoing solidarity calls for the arrest of the police officer involved in the shooting but understands that removing one police officer will not prevent this from happening in the future. ongoing solidarity moves through the emotions that are brought on by each new act of violence, but is fueled instead by intentional and lasting systems of action.

i made my first “sustained action” story almost 3 months ago, knowing that a time would come that white people’s attention would move on from our struggle for justice. the story encouraged people to find ways to bake allyship and antiracism into their lives to ensure sustained, lasting action and impact.

it’s time to reflect and refocus your efforts. reactive solidarity does more harm than good, and this fight is long from over.

#antiracist #antiracism #antiracisteducation #antiracisteducator #analogy #listeningandlearning #angryblackwoman

There are ten slides. A grid of multicolored dots is initially used to display dates, but substituted for a grid of dots using a white-to-navy gradient key to demonstrate no allyship (white) to concrete action (navy). The three final slides are set in large colored circles.

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