How to be a Better Ally on Social Media
This summer has been one for the books for many reasons; what has come out of the pause, that the pandemic has put on daily life, is a deafening cry for those in positions of privilege to make more effort to call out inequality.
For black and brown communities this summer has been hard, to say the least. As a result of the world waking up to the injustice of the traumatic deaths of unarmed black men in America, the Black Lives Matter movement's momentum has been unstoppable. Although there is a palpable change underway, more still needs to be done to make sure equality is felt for all, across all communities. The equestrian sector being very much a part of that.
Due to the pandemic, showing support for the cause through other means than attending the marches and protests with a sandwich board and a megaphone has become even more necessary. For those at high risk of Covid-19, protesting was just out of the question as it would present too much of a danger to their health. This article is designed to help you find the best ways to be anti-racist online and how to improve your social media allyship.
Forbes defines allyship as;
“A lifelong process of building relationships based on trust, consistency, and accountability with marginalized individuals and/or groups of people.”
Social Media allyship comes in many different forms, whether that be highlighting marginalised voices or highlighting links to educational resources or links to donation pages. Whilst performative allyship can be hurtful and harm the cause rather than help it, if you truly care about the cause and you are willing to back up your words with action, there is no wrong way to be an ally online. If you are using your platform, privilege and resources to increase cultural representation and inclusion you are well on your way to being a good ally.
You will find that by giving without wanting anything in return, you are rejuvenated. Allyship is about helping those who are guaranteed more pressure on their mental and emotional health, and offering a source of strength for easing that pressure. A megaphone for their voices, your time when they don't have enough or an offer to help in any way they need you to; these are all ways you can aid the wellbeing of those with less privilege than you have.
Share and highlight activist creativity
One tool that has really stood out as being most effective is infographics, creative slide shows and the use of art to illustrate the harsh realities of inequality. The reality is that most of us are visual learners and we are more likely to remember things that are presented to us with an additional graphic that we find attractive, or even just a colour scheme that makes the information stand out from the rest of our feeds.
Ambivalence is activism's biggest enemy and art grabs the attention of someone scrolling far more than a block of text. It is harder to ignore and by sharing it, you are also drawing attention to artists who have put a lot of time and effort into their work so deserve to be noticed!
Some of our favourite creative accounts are;
@das.penman (scroll down on her instagram and she has some great infographics)
2. Listen before you act
The most important thing about being an ally is accepting that you will never truly understand how it feels to be marginalised and to move forward you have to listen to the perspectives of those who are marginalised, unlearning any preconceptions you had and relearning the truth.
This process is challenging and probably will make you uncomfortable if you're doing it correctly, embrace it and accept that it is necessary to become a good ally.
Once you feel you know more, start to share your newfound education with people around you who haven't started the process yet, whether that be your peers, friends or family. Share the resources that gave you clarity, highlight the voices who you found insightful, make sure that the chain of unlearning and relearning carries on past you.
3. Interrogate your vocabulary
You have you take responsibility for changing your language to make sure it is as inclusive as possible. Words have so much power that you have to be absolutely certain you are informed enough to be using the right ones online if you want to be a good ally.
Vocabulary becomes even more important when you are delving into intersectional issues (inequality that is compounded by two or more factors of marginalisation affecting the group in question eg. gender and race, sexuality and race, race and class, etc.). Be aware that although something might not be an obviously offensive slur, language contains so many subtleties that it could be insensitive to the people who straddle the identity of two marginalised groups or in a way that you don't realise as it is institutionally normalised.
Being conscious of your word choices prove that you are making a real effort and that you care about the people affected by the issues you are talking about.
4. Don't stop at social media
To be a true ally your activism has to go beyond sharing information to your instagram story. Although it is a great place to start because it connects you with people you can't reach in real life and it is a wealth of education, if there is real world consequence as a result of the gesture you are not doing enough.
Attend marches, show up to meetings in your village, town or city, send letters to MPs or people in charge of boards like the FEI and National Governing Sporting Bodies encouraging them to do more to make our sport more inclusive or suggesting specific changes. You have to create the change you want to see in the world.
The Facebook group Equestrian's For All is aimed at discussing the barriers that members of marginalised groups face when existing in the equestrian world, highlighting opportunties for BAME riders, providing further reading recommendations, highlighting projects that promote inclusivity in the equestrian world and talking about how to make equestrianism more welcoming.
The hashtag #rideoutracism is being used to highlight content that discusses racism within the equine industry and how we can all work to make it a more inclusive environment, the campaign was founded by Reece McCook who runs the account @rideoutracism_official.