Would you mind if I asked you a question?

It’s not uncommon to get feedback about the how crucial partners in this work are. I get that. The title takes you there.

But I make a point of distinguishing the title from the person. That’s missed. It takes a minute to notice that my objection is to the mentality:

“If you were thinking about this with a firm grasp of who needs to do drive what, you’d never have come up with the term ‘White Ally.’ The fact that you did is a clue that you might be just a bit off on what’s actually happening here and who needs to drive what. Can we tweak that so we can make this other thing we’re trying to do together better? Because the thing that makes you see yourself in that light is the same thing that permits Karen to call the police when we’re sitting in our cars, which is the same thing that permitted Chauvin to sit on George’s neck. So let’s disassemble that and put it back together the right way so we can actually make real and lasting progress here.”

So my question is this: what makes you think I think good people are are unnecessary in this process?

The name is dangerous because of the domino effect from its flawed premise. That’s the fortune cookie version of everything I’m addressing here.