For allies, gratitude can sometimes highlight privilege in uncomfortable ways. The Frisky Fairy offers some insight into their own process of receiving gratitude, and reminds us that “acceptable behavior” shouldn’t be a pre-requisite for allyship.
“And then I realized how f** it was. I was being thanked for doing the bare minimum. This isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy the thank you. I truly did. It’s wonderful to be appreciated. But why was I being appreciated? I was being appreciated for being loud and yelling at other white people, because we live in a society that has made people of color afraid to speak up for themselves. How absurd is that? How ridiculous is that. That even among a number of liberal minded folks and friends, people of color are still afraid to speak up in favor of people who are behaving in a way they agree with. Because white people will no longer see them as a ‘good’ person of color who behaves in a way that is acceptable.”
Read the whole article here: No, Seriously, Tell Me I’m Racist