What Does It Mean To Be A White Ally

               A line of white people snaked around the entrance of Saint Agatha’s Catholic Church in North Lawndale Wednesday. Inside the sanctuary the Chicago chapter     of Showing up for Racial Justice (SURJ) was convening the first in a series of workshops called “Ally Is a Verb: Finding Your Role in the Movement for Black Liberation.”



           Lydia, another SURJ member, talked about the history of    predatory real estate practices targeting African-Americans in North Lawndale and organizing around racial justice and civil rights issues in the neighborhood by groups such as the    Contract Buyers League.



               I found myself in a group with three white women from Ohio and Indiana and one white man from Miami, who spoke of his experience in the world as a “white     Hispanic.”



               “Your fight is my fight.”



               “You can try to be trustworthy, but you don’t decide if you’re trustworthy.”



               The last discussion prompt created a palpable paralysis: What gifts do you bring to the movement for black liberation; what do you hope to receive or have     already received? No one seemed to have a good answer.