True allyship involves the ongoing practice of uplifting historically marginalized groups.
When the clock strikes midnight and it hits February 1, the Black community collectively gets to experience what it’s like to be the most popular kids in school. The second Black History Month begins, our inboxes are full of collaboration requests, and our phones blow up with event ideas, consultation requests, and well wishes from allies across the board.
But during the rest of the year, our inboxes are dry, and our phones are silent—the community forgotten.
This is barely an exaggeration of a real phenomenon the Black community, particularly at Queen’s, knows well. Our calendars are chock full of opportunities for one month, but for the rest of the year, our events, our activism, and our community is mostly self run and self-recognized.
Black Histories and Futures month is a beautiful time to celebrate the power, potential, and richness of Black people worldwide. It’s a necessary month, needed so we can focus on the voices and histories that have been systematically silenced throughout North American history. In a predominantly white institution like Queen’s, the importance of Black History Month is redoubled when considering the fact many students at Queen’s have had very little exposure to Black people prior to coming here.
That said, February is only one month, and the shortest month of the year as well. With the multitude of clubs, activist groups, opportunities, and people at Queen’s, Black History Month shouldn’t be the only month where we collaborate with and celebrate Black people.
Black people exist during all 365 days of the year. We continuously create stellar events, build organizations from scratch, and make art 365 days of the year. We have ideas at all times and the capabilities to build on these ideas continuously. So, it’s disappointing to see “allies” only express that allyship when the spotlight is put on us.
It’s as if many of these so-called allies only care about allyship when it’s trendy.
To only recognize and work with the Black community during the shortest month of the year is tokenization at its finest especially at the university level, where a lot of the labour we do is done for free. Students, student governments, and clubs that wish to express their allyship during Black History Month should take their energy and spread it out throughout the entire year.
The lack of regular for the Black community further alienates us from the rest of the community. In a predominantly white institution like Queen’s, having safe and inclusive spaces is important for Black students to thrive at university.
Allyship can take many forms throughout the year. Firstly, clubs shouldn’t be afraid to reach out to the Black community at all times of the year. But also, it’s important for allies to continuously voice for Black people and the Black community throughout the year and give spaces for Black people to voice our concerns and speak about our issues.
There’s nothing stopping non-Black allies from celebrating Black people at all points of the year—especially during other holidays that celebrate notable people from marginalized groups. On International Women’s Day, the Black women such as Angela Davis that fought for liberation. During Pride Month, the Black queer and trans icons who have shaped our world to this day such as Marsha P. Johnson and Bayard Rustin .
Allyship shouldn’t be limited to one day, nor one month—it’s a continuous process of showing solidarity with marginalized groups. This allyship should require action throughout the whole year.
Otherwise, your allyship to the Black community is just surface-level performative activism.
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