Another Word For White Ally Is Coward Fear. Fear is real. Thee are times when fear should be listened to. Like when shots ring out and fear tells you to duck and run. There are other times when fear needs to be pushed through. We leave it up to cach person to decide when to push and when to run. The fear we criicize is not that of those who stay away from violent and chaotic scenes, not that of those who listen to their bodies telling them they cannot handle yet another trauma. We find no fault in those who make these choices for themselves. “The fear that we would like to critique here is the fear of forming onc’s own opinion, the fear of developing one’s own analysis and then acting upon it. We do find fault in this fear of the White Ally. To bea White Ally s to stop thinking for one’s clf, to blind- Iy follow a leader based on no other criteria than their identity. At least this is what is demanded of us by those who would make us into Allies. “The concept of the White Ally is bankrupt. One cannot be an ally to a category of people. To speak the words “I am a White Ally to people of color” is to commit an act of double speak, to internal- ize non-sense. There is no singular black voice that can be listencd 0, no authentic community leadership which to follow. There are only many different people with different ideas, life experiences and perspectives. To think otherwise, to hink that all black peo- ple share a common opinion is extremely problematic, one might even say racist. One can be an ally to individuals though there are other words in the English language which describe this re- Lationship with more grace: friend, lover, partner and sometimes cellmate or co-defendant. On Leadership “There are two kinds of leadership. One which comes from orga- nizations with acronyms for names and official ticles with paid salaries and another which is created by activity, We will refer 0 the first as formal leadership and the second as informal lead- ership. The reality of the current moment demands that white people follow the leadership of black people while in the spaces of majority black rebellion. We are currencly not in a position to challenge this narrative though we would like to pur forward the concepr of a multi-racial rebellion in which informal lead- ership is picked up and put down again by all participants. As ideal as that may be to us, that is not the situation in which we continually find ourselves. Accordingly we choose to follow the informal leadership of black people fighting back against police terror. For better or worse, in some situations, a riot for example, one cannot follow both the formal lcadership of those associated with organizations and the informal leadership of those fighting in the streets. In such situations the two forms of leadership move in opposite directions. As people who do not identify with the role of White Ally, we choose the side of the fighters while the White Ally consistenly chooses the side of the organizations. Why do people associated with organizations find riotous be- havior so objectionable? While we don't want to put words into their mouths, we do have a few guesses. Paid organizers requirc funding. Funding requires wealthy and often liberal bencfactors. Don't bite the hand tha feeds, right? Organizers requirc a body of people to be organized which is another way of saying manip- ulated or controlled. When people refuse to be controlled, orga- nizers don't know how to abandon their roles and participate in the moment. They remain stuck between an instinct to rally and dircet and the momentum of a body of people who have tempo- ily escaped all mediation and control. Where some claim to be building a movement, we sce only the repression of the movement. What would it look like if instead of organizing that repression, groups of trusted comrades took on the task of giving the rioters a fighting chance of winning. What supplics and materials are needed where and when in order to actually win a confrontation with the police? How can we do this in 2 way that strengthens our capacity instead of escalating to a point at which all the gloves come off? What offensive objectives could we set for ourselves — land, food, housing, infrastructurc? What docs it cven mean to g frec and what would it take to get there? On Barricades A barricade is a tool. We do not place objects in the street simply in order to have fun. We do so in order to inhibit the flow of traffic, to “shut shit down,” and sometimes to slow the advance of the police and create a situation of greater safety for those who wish to fight them. We sce the process of strect fighting which has evolied over the past year as a process of lcarning, gaining con- fidence and of setting precedents for future rebellions. An ideal barricade would be large, tall and strong and potentially set on firc only once the police have arrived. We think this would be an effective tactic to employ in order to hold and defend space and as a way to safely fight. Getting to the point where the construction of such a baricade could take place would most likely entail a fair amount of collective learning and creativity. In other words, we all need to practice together. “Thisis why we participate in riots instead of staying home or sim- ply watching from the sidewalks like good White Alli To those who say we'll run away when shit gets real, that others will bear the consequences of our actions, that we never experi- ence the repression that we instigate: Over the past 15 years of participation in various social move- ments and struggles we have gone through a lot. Collectively, we have been shot with rubber bullets, tear gassed, pepper sprayed and tazed. We have been arrested countless times racking up re- cords that only increase the level of our bail and decrease our employability. We have stared 10 year felony sentences in the face and refused to break with our principles. Some of us have been beaten within an inch of our lives by rabid police wiclding fash- lights and metal capped clubs. One of us actually did die and thanks only to a combination of luck, stubbornness and a doctor’s hands came back to life. We have had our houses raided. We have been placed under 24 hour FBI surveillance and subpoenaed by federal grand juries. Some of s have permanent nerve damage in our wrists duc to hand cuffs and pain compliance techniques. Weve had our fingers intentionally broken by police. We've been beaten during police intcrrogation. We could go on, but the point is not to congratulate ourselves for the misery that we've lived though. The point s to say that shit got real for us a long time ago and we'ee sill here. We didnt run. We still come out for almost every demo, though lately we've stopped making them happen ourselves. We're sill confronting power and siding with those who fight. After a decade and a half of beatings and court cases, we're still on the same tip and we're not going anywhere. To Those Who Say They Don't Trust Us: You shouldn’t, and we don't trust you cither. Which is not o say that we're immediately suspicious of all strangers. Trust, like friendship, is a mutual relationship thatis built over time. It is not one-sided. It is not something that White Allies have to carn. It is something that comrades who struggle and live together over many years develop. Hopefully, the past year of protests and riots has produced many new relationships of trust throughout the city welive in and across the country, We don't expect to be included in all of these relationships, but just because we're not a pare of your new crew doesn’t mean we have nothing to offer cach other. To Those Who Would Try to Unmask Us: We wear masks, not because we are police agents nor because we arc always intent on startin somethin, but rather we cover our fac- es to remain safe in conflice-filled situations involving the policc. Contrary to the opinion popular among a certain scgment of the protester population, white people do sometimes get targeted by the police even when they arc in majority black crowds. In our experence,police pick out and target or sapegot rebellous in- a brightly colored picce of clothing for example. They do this in order o make a quick and successful arrest with easily communicated orders, This is why we wear dark clothes and masks. I¢s not (juse) be- cause we think we look good dressed up like ninjas. To act by, say, de-arresting a fellow rebel and then change one’s clothing is one way of avoiding police repression. The more people who do this, the safer we all are. The fewer masked people there arc on the strcets the more those who fight are left exposed. Even if you are not going to break the law, wearing a mask is a subtle way of increasing the safety and the power of the crowd. Where there arc sceurity cameras or police video surveillance, which is to say al- most everywhere these days, everyone should be wearing a mask. ‘The more the police recognize you, the more likely you are to be targeted for arrest or additional surveillance. To Those Who Say We've Started All the Fires: A best this is che highest form of sclf-delusion. At worst it is intentional manipulation that could lead to serious legal conse- quences. In addition to simply being wrong, claiming that the many acts of arson committed over the past year were perpetrated by white people erases the agency of black rebels. According o this logic black people will only violently rebel if they are put up w0t by whites To the Activists: Ler’s make a deal. We promise not to disrupt your Non-Violent Direct Actions and Civil Disobedience spaces. Hell, most of us probably won't even show up. In return, the only thing we ask is that you stop coming into the space of a riot and attempting to control what is by definition an uncontrollable situation, Unlike you, we don't want you to stop doing what you think s right and we're not really interested in convincing you to see things our way at all costs. If, when it comes down to it, we just disagree on fundamental issues, then so be it. We'll have to find some way of co-existing. We could go further o criticize all the spcialized roles of the official Movement like legal observer, strect medic, live strcamer or citizen journalist. I¢s not that we think that no one should be carrying medical supplics and possess the training to use them under the most stressful of circumstances. Or that, even though most footage taken at demonstrations serves the interest of the police, there is never a uscful reason to have a camera, a note pad and a pen. It just that the more people there are standing around watching, spectating, the less people there are actually partici- pating. And if we're actually going to win we'te going to need all the active participation we can get. So by all means, bring your camera, your maalox and your bandages, but also, bring your gas mask, your leather gloves, and an extra tshirt to tic around your face. Refuse to be confined to a single role that excludes you from participation in all others. Break down the division between fighters and cae-takers, between actors and supporters. Even while we make this gentle criticism we also recognize that not everyone feels comfortable doing everything. Different people have different inclinations and comfort levels and we respeet this difference. Hopefully others can begin to do the same. — A few of the many anarchists in St. Louis P.S. We're not all white! The fear that we would like to critique here is the fear of forming one’s own opin- ion, the fear of developing * one’s own analysis and then acting upon it. We do find fault in this fear of the White Ally. To be a White Ally is to stop thinking for one’s self, to blindly follow a leader hased on no other criteria than their identity. At least this is what is de- manded of us by those who would make us into Allies.