ABSTRACT
After consciousness-raising and motivating, we need to help people from privileged groups find ways to create change. When students feel empowered to challenge bias and inequality, it reduces feelings of guilt and helplessness, and channels their energy in constructive ways. Yet, just as unlearning oppression is an ongoing process, so is becoming an effective ally. In this chapter, I explore what it means to be an ally, how to develop efficacy as an ally, and options for promoting social justice. I draw on my own experiences and what others have modeled and written (cf. Albrecht & Brewer, 1990; Bishop, 2002; Kivel, 2002; Leondar-Wright, 2005; Raible, 2009; Reason, Broido, Davis & Evans, 2005). Since many of these issues pertain to us as social justice educators as well as the people we work with, I will address the reader directly in several of the sections that offer ideas about taking and sustaining action.
