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| The phrase "allyship fatigue," which originated from the disabled community, popped up in the last week. But the existence of this word is an excuse to justify nonparticipation. It holds the same function as "quarantine fatigue," which describes people just giving up on wearing masks and physical distancing because they didn't want to anymore. They devalued the risks on a basis of personal emotions instead of care for others. But we're still in a pandemic. The risks are still here and incredibly high, just as they are for Black people facing racism. And I've had to think about my participation in "allyship fatigue." One headline click might seem innocuous but if it informs Google that I'm more interested in Bon Appetit than Black Trans Lives, then I'm complicit in the system. If I'm rushing to read about resignations and not questioning the work behind the scenes, then my sense of justice is not in the right place. If my timeline is all about "go back to normal," then, as many tweets like this one by @crunchwarpsup37 have implied, I am not following the right people. But following isn't what holds me accountable to action. Action is. Which reminded me of how justice is a Venn diagram. You can read about it in detail here, but I'll give you the tl;dr of it, too. One circle is what you believe to be justice and the other is what Black Lives Matter to be justice. Then there's the overlap, which defines what action you can take to move society forward towards achieving justice. Finding inertia in the overlap, so that every win is a community win, is how I believe wellness can finally become as accessible as we claim it should be. And that inertia comes with learning. Learning how to be a good friend to your Black friend, how to celebrate Black joy and history, how to be anti-racist, and so much more. If your overlap is small right now, it's okay. Mine started that way too, but now I'm looking forward to the day it becomes a full circle. — Christal Yuen, Senior Editor |
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