Hello friends,
I recently read devoured Terence Lester's book, From Dropout to Doctorate (Breaking the Chains of Educational Injustice), and it caused me to reflect on my commitment to allyship as a part of my personal Purpose.
A quick online search defines allyship as:
Allyship is the practice of using your social influence and privilege to support and advocate for marginalized groups and individuals who face systemic injustice and inequity based on factors like race, gender, age, or ability. It is an active, ongoing process of building trust, learning, and taking action, rather than a static identity or performative gesture, and involves listening to and amplifying the voices of those with marginalized experiences to challenge power imbalances and promote positive change.
Building trust... Learning... Taking action...
My Purpose is to have an outsized, positive impact on the world, and being an ally to those who are marginalized, held back, or in any way do not receive the same privileges that I do in society is a significant motivating factor for me - in the work I do, in the way I raise my children, and in the person I want to be.
Every time I think I've made progress toward being an effective ally, I'm reminded through books like From Dropout to Doctorate that I need to do more. I benefit every day from privileges that I did not earn. And while in many cases these privileges are "invisible", they are there if you look for them. For example, take this passage from Nickel and Dimed - On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich:
When someone works for less pay than she can live on-when, for example, she goes hungry so that you can eat more cheaply and conveniently-then she has made a great sacrifice for you, she has made you a gift of some part of her abilities, her health, and her life. The "working poor," as they are approvingly termed, are in fact the major philanthropists of our society. They neglect their own children so that the children of others will be cared for; they live in substandard housing so that other homes will be shiny and perfect; they endure privation so that inflation will be low and stock prices high. To be a member of the working poor is to be an anonymous donor, a nameless benefactor, to everyone else.
(Hat tip to my friend Jonathan for gifting me Nickel and Dimed.)
As he shares in his book, Terence's mother had to work multiple jobs to earn only $18,000/year, which she had to use to provide for herself and her two children. In doing so, she allowed the rest of us to live a more comfortable and enjoyable life. She paid the tax so that people like me could thrive.
I need to be better about understanding the lives of others and factoring their experiences into how I perceive the world. I need to build more trust, listen more diligently, and take more action.
Frequent readers of this newsletter will recognize Terence’s name in connection with the profound phrase, “Proximity Changes Everything.” This concept emphasizes that the more we learn about others, the more we cultivate empathy and understanding within ourselves for them. I firmly believe that a lack of empathy serves as the underlying cause of all our societal challenges.
Terence's book sits on my shelf next to books such as Parting the Waters (Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement 1954-63) by Taylor Branch, A Way Out of No Way (A Memoir of Truth, Transformation, and the New American Story) by Raphael Warnock, and Evicted (Poverty and Profit in the American City) by Matthew Desmond; right where it belongs. He delicately and vulnerably intertwines his personal story with that of racial injustice (past and present) in our society, and does so in a way that helped me to see the world more clearly than I ever have.
You should buy Terence's book, not because he deserves your attention (he does), and not because he's my friend and I believe his story deserves to be heard (it surely does), but because I'm betting it will open your eyes as well. I don't see how anyone could read this book and not be motivated to take action.
If you need help finding your Purpose, or your team or organization could benefit from guidance in moving in a Purpose-driven direction, please let me know.
And, as always, I hope you’re happy.
(The links I provided are to Bookshop.org rather than Amazon. In taking steps to have an outsized, positive impact, I've come to realize that supporting small, local businesses that pay living wages is worth the marginal increased cost and slightly slower shipping times. It's one small thing we can do to recognize that when we get things a little cheaper and a little faster, someone down the line is paying for it.)