From Ally to Accomplice: Driving Culture Change Across Organizations

Many of us would consider ourselves allies to underrepresented groups. We stand in support of disenfranchised people, voices, and experiences. We sympathize, we educate ourselves, and we want to help. But is it enough to just be an ally? Recently, the term ally has been challenged by the concept of the accomplice. While the word does have inherent negative connotations, an accomplice in this instance means actively using your privilege to engage and change the systems supporting inequality. Accomplices put themselves at risk to remove barriers, misunderstandings, and even threats impeding political, professional, and personal equality. Allies and accomplices are not two separate categories. Instead, all accomplices are allies, but not all allies are accomplices. In this session, the panel will discuss ways to move from ally to accomplice. Discuss instances and spaces both professionally and personally where we were motivated to risk something of ourselves to advocate for another. We hope these examples will encourage an open discussion on tactics for moving from ally to accomplice in our individual spheres, with an emphasis on creating change from where you are right now.