Six white men who were identified by Black, Indigenous, and racialized community leaders as allies participated in life history interviews and focus groups to share how they came to aspire to allyship and build trust. Together, we synthesized three themes: (1) Starting points: white men’s early experiences that made them open to learning more about joining social justice groups; (2) Becoming a white male ally: a look at the processes through which some white men came to join social justice groups; and (3) Six relationships of white men’s allyship: the relationships that men practice allyship in. The series is meant as a resource for social justice groups to share with white men seeking allyship, and for white men seeking allyship to process and reflect on how they may show up in these spaces.
By Jeff Halvorsen, Lemlem Haile, Fanny Oliphant, and Liza Lorenzetti.
Acknowledgements to the community leaders who contributed to this work, Pamela Beebe, Lemlem Haile, Omer Jamal, Abbas Mancey, Fanny Oliphant, Kamal Sehgal, and Adrian Wolfleg, and to white men aspiring to allyship (Ryan, Will Tabak, Doug Murphy, Phil, Jerry, and Perry Stein.
Suggested Citation: Halvorsen, J., Haile, L., Oliphant, F., & Lorenzetti, L., (2023). White Men Learning to Ally: Infographic Series. University of Calgary, Faculty of Social Work.