White Allies

By: Talahni Turpin, Julian Geuter, and Christopher Mercer

Date: April 26th, 2016

1. Talahni - Introduction
There comes a time in your life when you can no longer put off choosing. You have to
choose one path or the other. You can live your life safe and be protected by people just like you,
or you can stand up and be a leader for what is right. Always, remember this: People never
remember the crowd; they remember the one person that had the courage to say and do what no
one would do.- Shannon L. Alder.
When you hear the word the Ally, today in our society this word is often used with the
term, White Allies. But what exactly are white allies? The term white allies, are when white
people, become an ally for minorities. But how are white allies able to do this? Well, the reason
is because of the saying, white privilege. The vast majority of white people are given many
different great opportunities when it comes to:
1. Government
2. Jobs
3. School education
4. Economy
5. Politics
The term white privilege has been going on for many decades, and still to this day, this term still
shows the same effects but is even worse for people of color. People of color will still have to
struggle, to become successful in any of those categories listed, because of racism. Since racism
and racial issues are surrounding our society, many people dont know how to react when a white
person is an ally. The purpose of our project is to show that it is okay for white people, and
anyone to become an ally when a person is being discriminated. Even if the issue is racism,
gender roles, bully, etc. We want to show people that being an ally for anyone can be really
beneficial for a person, if that person is being attacked, physically or mentally. Also showing that
breaking away from typical stereotypes of all different races, can be better for the generation of
today, and our generation can set an example for the next generation to come. Throughout this
document,we will be going in specific detail about the history with White Privilege, and how
their privilege is still the same in todays society, also discussing why is it very hard to be a
White ally due to their privilege. Then we will be going over a overview of what our project is
going to be, and how looking through research gave us our inspiration to plan the perfect video.
We will also show a detailed overview on who is going to be in the video,what certain tools we
need for certain scene, and an expert who can give us a more clearer perspective on White
Privilege. Our expert really helped us a lot with her perspective of being an white ally, and also
discuss her personal experiences with privilege. Then we will be giving a brief conclusion on
how our project is going to inspire others.
2. Chris - Motivation
To begin, you must know what an ally is. While the definition is broad, we want to focus on what
it means to be a white ally. We drew information from a paper published from Williams & Mary

University called What does it mean to be an ally, that stated that an ally is A person of one
social identity group who stands up in support of members of another group; typically a member
of a dominant group standing beside member(s) of a group being discriminated against or treated
unjustly Simply put, someone who comes to the aid of a racial minority. We think its odd that
people who have historically been oppressors (namely whites in the US, but this can change
depending on the place) are generally afraid of becoming an ally due to social backlash. We want
to make it clear that anyone can be an ally, and that not only is it accepted, but its the right thing
to do. The idea of being an ally is by no means new. Whites working against slavery in the Civil
War can absolutely be considered allies, but the word and idea behind white ally has become
much more of a hot topic in recent years, and likely will be an idea that sticks. We hope to
motivate viewers to be an ally, because while are many allies out there, we really cant consider
this issue solved until everyone is an ally. While we initially looked into this topic without much
forethought, as it was simply a topic that interested us. Reason being, we knew many people
like/would like the idea of being an ally, but they needed a push in the right direction to really
start practicing it. As time went on, we found that there actually not all that much data on allies
themselves. There are many people that most would consider allies, but actual statistical data
hasnt been gathered/posted from our research. This struck us as odd, as allies, or more
specifically white allies, is by no means a new concept. Because of this lack of plain statistical
data about white allies, we have gathered information regarding racial issues that are positively
affected by others being allies. For example, a poll by GALLUP (2) going back as far as 1959
asked if people approve of interracial marriages. From 4% in 1959, that number has steadily
increased to 87% in 2013. This seems to indicate more allies, but yet there are still many racist
views and actions still plaguing the US. In the US, blacks and hispanics are significantly (80%)
more likely to be frisked than whites. Furthermore, a poll indicated that antiblack sentiments rose
to 51% in 2012, a 3% increase from 2008. The problems dont stop there. In a study from The
Sentencing Project, blacks were shown to be 20% more likely (than whites) to be sentenced to
prison for an equal drug offense. These sorts of things simply shouldnt be happening modern
day. While its easy to chalk it up as somebody else's doing, be it a corrupt judge, police officer,
or similar, recognizing privileges is extremely important. Privileges are available resources or
abilities that someone can possess over someone else. The ones that most frequently come up in
discussion are those of white privilege, such as not being racially profiled or unfairly blamed in a
situation. Its important to realize that while you shouldnt be stressed or sad that you have these
privileges, its very important to recognize that you have them and try to actively work against
the opposite oppression and use them to aid others. This is to be portrayed in our video. While
we have different reasons for choosing the topic, I personally have seen many instances where a
white ally could have diffused or simply stopped the situation altogether. As I grow up, I now
realize that I can be that person now. For a while I was put off because I thought a kid would be
of no use, but I think our generation needs to speak up. In our video, we hope to convince people
that they can be an ally. In addition, we hope to explore the day to day problems associated with
non allies, and what it means to be one.

1. http://www.gallup.com/poll/163697/approve-marriage-blacks-whites.aspx
2. http://www.civilrights.org/publications/reports/racial-profiling2011/the-reality-of-racial.html
3. http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ap-poll-majority-harbor-prejudice-against-blacks
4. http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/rd_sentencing_review.pdf

3. Talahni-Project Summary
For our video, we are going to have a posterboard with different name labels that
describes a non-racial stereotype.
The name labels:
1. Beautiful
2. Intelligent
3. Powerful
4. Successful
5. Trustworthy
Were going to have pictures of different races, for the experimenter to choose from. But the
Breakfree moment will be that, the experimenter will be allowed to only choose one picture for
each category. Once the experimenter select the person they chose, we want them to elaborate
and explain why they specifically chose that person. We are hoping that outcome will be able to
show that, what privilege or stereotypes is based on due to societys point of view. In the end of
our experiment were going to allow the experimenter to choose all of the different in a certain
category based on their opinion, not societys opinion.
What does the word ally really mean to you?
1. Have you ever been an ally when a person needed help?
2. When you hear the word White privilege what does that mean to you? Also how
does this word affect society today?
These are starting questions for our video, but these questions will go more in depth with
the outline of the video in the next section. Trying to find inspiration videos for our topic were
very hard at first because surprisingly a lot of people and social media werent really talking
about this issue. Once we did a lot of researching and had help from different resources, we
found some videos and some articles about this issue. That gave us our inspiration for the
concept of our video. But surprisingly there hasnt been any recent videos out there to provide
with the information we need. Overall we hope that we achieve our goal with this video, and get
people more aware on being an ally and how to be a successful ally during a serious situation.
Down below are some of the videos or articles that gave us really good information for
our inspiration for our video:
1. Macklemore- White privilege 2 ,
http://everydayfeminism.com/2016/01/macklemore-white-allies-hesitatin
This article gave us a perspective on how Macklemore the rapper felt about
having white privilege, and how the narrator of this article feels about the song. This article

really gave us a clear picture on how, even through the music culture, some people are talking
about this issue.
2. Joy Degruy- A trip to the grocery
store,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf9QBnPK 6Yg
This video gave us a visual picture about Joy Degruy situation in the grocery store, and
how even though her sister-in-law was half black and half white, she was still able to have no
problems in the store because she was part white. It was also really interesting to see that after
her sister-in-law spoke up for sister in the store, two elderly white woman spoke up for Degruy.
To us it was really interesting to see that her sister-in-law was able to use her White Privilege,
even though she was half black and half white.
3. Katie Mgongolwa- Being a White Ally during Baltimores
uprising,http://www.huffingtonpost.com/katie-mgongolwa-/being-a-white-allyduring_b_7173466.html
This article, really gave us insight on how the author had to deal with being a white ally
during a real serious situation. This situation were the Baltimore Riots, or The Baltimore
Uprising. These riots were caused by the death of Freddie Gray. During this time the author
Katie Mgongolwa had to express how it felt to be a white ally, even though she has a husband
and son who is black. She really expressed her worries on if her son or husband will be the next
Freddie Gray. Her being an ally, really showed us a deep real experience with being an ally.
Overall the article was a very interesting read.

4. Chris - Project Details and Video Outline

As anyone can be an ally (not a white ally, but rather an ally to a different minority) we hope to
make a concise and to the point video that can only be interpreted one way to persuade or trigger
people to be an ally. These people who arent yet an ally are the target audience of the video. We
hope to make it click for the viewer when they first see the situation where the ally is from an
area that they normally wouldnt expect. It should be then that they see that an ally can come
from anywhere. Its far more persuasive to let someone come to their own conclusion, rather than
bombarding them with facts. We have interviewed a friend of Fran, named Jess Joilett. She has
lots of experience with being a white ally. Growing up with a mom that exemplified being a
white ally, Jess became deeply involved in her community and is a member of Pillars of The
Community, an organization dealing with social injustices. She can be reached via email at
jess@potcsd.org. explain white privilege and what it means to be an ally. They should be more
receptive when they come to the realization themselves. The expert will be shown after our clips
taken outside performing the social experiment. We plan to film in the Liberty Station area,
likely the shopping center portion. This area has plenty of natural light, and a wide array of races
and people that will (hopefully) come to respond to the situation or social experiment creates. We
want those coming in to the initial problem to be genuine, but we (Talahni, Chris, Julian) will

each create a situation and see which garners the most response out of passersby. Currently there
are no other plans to add actors. To do this, we will need some equipment.
A 1080p+ camera for clear quality, allowing the viewer to focus on the point in
the video rather than the video production.
A computer equipped with either Sony Vegas, iMovie, or Final Cut Pro for
creating our video segments into a polished final product.
A location. We are planning on filming the majority of the video in the
NTC/Liberty Station area. This is the most convenient and accessible for our group
members, but also has enough racial diversity and student population for the topic at
hand.
With these 3 things, we hope our video will come out polished and presentable. We want it to be
a unique video, and we havent found any videos similar in nature. What videos we could find
were discussions or commentary on allies as a whole, rather than a focused video like the one we
intent to produce. This wont come without challenges though. We expect to have a hard time
finding a situation where someone is in distress, so we have the option of creating a mock
situation and waiting for people to respond, or simply finding previously posted video clips and
editing them to include the analysis as previously described. We will have an easy to follow
video so that viewers can easily digest it and not feel as if they are to blame. We want them to
feel motivated. This should happen when we reveal that an ally can come from anywhere and
help anyone. We will also show just how easy it is to be one. This in itself is our Call to action.
Viewers should feel inclined to be an ally after watching the video. This ending should
encourage the viewer to share the video. After a few rounds of shares, we think the video will
gain some level of viral attention and views. The end of the video will encourage the viewers to
share to social media. We plan to have 3 main deliverables. First, by asking the people we
selected why they placed the cutouts under each ideal, we can show that society holds negative
sentiment towards certain races (in this case, namely African-Americans.) Second, we show that
these anti-black sentiments can be solved, or at least improved. By having our expert go into her
experiences and sharing what people can do in order to be a better ally, we hope to show that its
easy to become an ally and start supporting minorities. Lastly, and our biggest However, for
some of them we dont want to outright say them, allowing the viewer to pick it up and digest it
on their own without feeling forced.
April 22, 2016 - Project proposal submitted
April 25, 2016 - Presented to class, feedback received
April 26, 2016 - Proposal edited, any mistakes corrected and checked
April 29, 2016 - Film assets sources, interview lined up with expert
May 2, 2016 - Begin filming
May 3, 2016 - Expert interview/filming conducted
May 6, 2016 - End filming
May 7, 2016 - Begin editing
May 11, 2016 - Editing complete
May 12, 2016 - Peer review, feedback received
May 13, 2016 - Video corrected and checked

 May 14, 2016 - Final video completed

5. Julian - Conclusion
Overall we believe that the concept of our video, of showing different scenarios where an ally is
needed, will inspire our audience to become a successful ally. One of the things we are trying to
show is that everyone can be an ally, even the people you would least expect it from because of
all the stereotypes in our society. One big problem is that there arent enough allies in todays
society, and a lot of times people will probably just walk by and dont even react to the bad
situation that is happening. That is where our motivation comes from. We are trying to make
everybody feel like they can be an ally and encourage them to be an ally so next time they see
something bad happening they will interrupt and help. Sometimes you have to earn someones
trust through actions because we cannot simply decide that we are an ally, as it doesnt have to be
an identity. Also, being an ally doesnt always have to be about helping others in critical
situations. It can also mean being respectful and listening to others. What the viewers should take
from the video is that they should feel like an ally and hopefully be one the next time if they
havent already.

6. Julian - References/Cited Research

In U.S., 87% Approve of Black-White Marriage, vs. 4% in 1958. (n.d.). Retrieved April 22,
2016, from http://www.gallup.com/poll/163697/approve-marriage-blacks-whites.aspx
Mgongolwa, K. (n.d.). Being a White Ally During Baltimore's Uprising. Retrieved April 22,
2016, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/katie-mgongolwa-/being-a-white-allyduring_b_7173466.html
No More "Allies" - BGD. (2013). Retrieved April 22, 2016, from
http://www.blackgirldangerous.org/2013/09/no-more-allies/ A 5-Step Guide for Macklemore and
White Allies Afraid of Doing Anti-Racism Wrong. (2016). Retrieved April 22, 2016, from
http://everydayfeminism.com/2016/01/macklemore-white-allies-hesitating/
So You Call Yourself an Ally: 10 Things All Allies Need to Know. (2013). Retrieved April 22,
2016, from http://everydayfeminism.com/2013/11/things-allies-need-to-know/
The Reality of Racial Profiling. (n.d.). Retrieved April 22, 2016, from
http://www.civilrights.org/publications/reports/racial-profiling2011/the-reality-of-racial.html

W. (2011). Cracking the Codes: Joy DeGruy "A Trip to the Grocery Store" Retrieved April 22,
2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf9QBnPK6Yg