Dr. Bettina Love wrote a book in 2019 called We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom. In it she writes about how important it is to move from allyship to co-conspiratorship.
In short, being an ally means you are coming from a place of “I know and care a lot about this.” Being a co-conspirator means you are coming from a place of “I am taking a risk to do something about this.” Being an ally costs you nothing. Being a co-conspirator can cost you access, comfort, money, time, and even safety.
Check out the video below where Dr. Love describes being a co-conspirator as being willing to use your privilege to “put something on the line for somebody.”
It’s going to take a willingness from all of us to graduate from our comfortable ally phase to becoming full co-conspirators, putting it all on the line for our LGBTQ+ youth.
In this lesson, take 10-15 minutes to complete this quiz. It is designed to help you reflect on your current ally practices with LGBTQ+ youth and give you suggestions for how you might push your practice forward, no matter where you are starting from.
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Each week, you will receive an email with new lessons like this one with tools and resources to add to your ally toolbox.