Talking about privilege, power, and allyship is critical to the work we do at the ACLU of Southern California. To be a better ally, it’s important to unpack the definition of allyship, understand related terms, and find ways to continue to further our learning. The following training and resources have helped us lay the foundation for allyship in our work, and we hope they will help you, too.  

WHAT IS ALLYSHIP? 

KEY TERMS  

DO’S AND DON’TS OF ALLYSHIP 

GOOD PRACTICES

WHAT IS ALLYSHIP? 

• Allyship is not an identity. It is a lifelong process of building relationships based on trust, consistency, and accountability with marginalized individuals and/or groups of people. 
• Allyship is not self-defined. Our work and our efforts must be recognized by the people we seek to ally ourselves with. 
• It is important to be intentional in how we frame the work we do. For example, you can say you are “showing support for,” “showing our commitment to ending [a system of oppression],” or “using our privilege to help.”  

KEY TERMS 

• Ally - A member of a social group that enjoys some privilege that is working to end oppression and understand their own privilege. 
• Anti-racist – Someone who actively fights against racism because they do not support racism in any form. It is not enough to be “not racist.” 
• Implicit biases – The attitudes or stereotypes that affect our actions, understanding of events, and decisions in an unconscious manner. 
• Marginalized – A member of a group that is the primary target of a system of oppression. 
• Privilege – An unearned advantage given by society to some people but not all. 
• Oppression – Systemic, pervasive inequality that is present throughout society, that benefits people with more privilege and harms those with fewer privileges. In simple terms, discrimination + power = oppression. 

DO’S AND DON’TS OF ALLYSHIP 

Do's 

• Do your research to learn more about the history of the struggle in which you are participating. 
• Do the inner work to acknowledge how you participate in oppressive systems. 
• Do learn how to listen and accept criticism with grace, even if it’s uncomfortable. 
• Do the work every day to learn how to be a better ally. 
• Do use opportunities to engage people with whom we share identity and privilege in conversations about oppression experienced by those we seek to work with. 

Don’ts 

• Do not expect to be taught or shown. Take it upon yourself to use the tools around you to learn and answer your questions. 
• Do not participate for the gold medal in the “Oppression Olympics” (you don’t need to compare how your struggle is “just as bad as” a marginalized person’s) 
• Do not behave as though you know best. 
• Do not take credit for the labor of those who are marginalized and did the work before you stepped into the picture. 
• Do not assume that every member of an underinvested community feels oppressed. 

GOOD PRACTICES 

• Center those who are impacted by saying statements like “Are you okay?” 
• Listen to their response and learn. 
• Apologize for the impact, even though you didn’t intend it by saying “I’m sorry!” 
• Be timely, respect boundaries, be self-aware, and reflective. 

View the How to Be a Better Ally 101 training in full 

One year ago, the ACLU SoCal unveiled a monumental mural on the facade of its Los Angeles headquarters in Westlake. “The Care We Create” is a testament to generations of activists, organizers, and advocates who have fought and continue to fight for justice across Southern California. As the ACLU SoCal’s inaugural artist-in-residence, I had the task of transforming the building into a beacon of hope and collective call to action through design, drawing, color, and composition. 

I have long been interested in the intersection of art and social justice and I’ve especially been inspired by the iconic Los Angeles murals of artists like Barbara Carrasco, Yreina Cervantez, Noni Olabisi, Tony Osumi, and Barbara Kruger. It was a great honor to work in this tradition of mural-making that claims civic space to lift up the community and demand change and justice. Like any artist, I ran into some challenges but fortunately, all were resolved thanks to working with community partners and a community of artists.

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Creating a mural during a global pandemic

Due to the pandemic, most of our planning for the mural had to be done remotely. I developed the mural’s design digitally using an iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Procreate app, and Adobe Illustrator. By creating the composition as a vector-based artwork, it could be readily scaled up, in this case to the size of a three-story building. I had to work from precise measurements of the building to make sure the design would translate seamlessly to the architectural scale and surface elements.

Designing a mural in the middle of downtown Los Angeles

The mural’s imagery on the 5,500 square foot facade weaves in and around a grid-like arrangement of office windows and a vertical marble slab over the building’s entrance. The width of the building is anchored by a landscape inspired by the rolling green spaces of Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Center, a magnificent public park I often visit which is a treasured space of joy for communities of color. Across this landscape, I placed portraits of people from the ACLU SoCal’s 100-year history who fought for change and also current organizers and movement leaders. I used a bright color palette to highlight the diversity of the mural’s subjects and to bring a needed green space to this busy stretch of West 8th Street, just off of an exit of the 110 freeway. The marble slab above the main entrance became the building’s protest sign, embodying many of the demands for community care made by protesters for racial justice. 

Working with community partners

The mural’s bold and urgent demands for funding community care – not policing – were adapted from the People’s Budget LA coalition, which included Black Lives Matter - Los Angeles, People’s City Council, Ktown For All, and TransLatin@ Coalition. Organizers from the coalition generously collaborated with ACLU SoCal staff to brainstorm whose portraits would appear in the mural. The people represent issues including racial justice in policing and legal justice, immigrants’ rights, LGBTQ+ rights, economic justice and housing, first amendment rights, students and students’ rights. 

Finding a community of artists

We enlisted a talented and passionate painting and fabrication crew from the LA Art Collective and Wilson Cetina Group to bring the project to life. Led by master artist and fabricator, Eder Cetina, Juan “Gogo” Hernandez, David “Dense” Zajdman, Keefer “Keef” Butterworth, Fernando Mendoza, Dan Boer, and Frank “Kodak” Armstead worked for three weeks from dusk to dawn, high up on scissor lifts, painting each detail of the mural by hand using countless cans of exterior house paint. Before painting, they carefully transferred the mural’s design onto the brick surface of the building using a paper pounce method (also used by Michelangelo for the Sistine Chapel), in which a to-scale paper “cartoon” was punched with holes to transfer the drawing outlines as an accurate guide for the painters. In the case of Eder’s crew, they used black spray paint rather than the charcoal dust traditionally used in fresco painting to transfer the artwork.

I love the process of telling stories through symbols, and you can see allegorical details in the mural: 
 

Healing plants I worked with artist Sandy Rodriguez to identify many of the healing plants native to Southern California. Some of the native plants seen in the mural include canaigre dock, used for skin wash to heal cuts and scrapes; chamomile, used to calm anxiety and sleeplessness; and, manzanita, used to treat colds and clear toxins.

House keys The keys in the hand of Theo Henderson and the hotel building behind him represent the ongoing fight for the rights of the unhoused and a call to take over hotels that were vacant during COVID-19 to get people housed. The ACLU SoCal is constantly working to defend the rights of unhoused people and calls for the California legislature to protect them under the law.

"Black Lives Cherish" in American Sign Language Janaya Future Khan, Patrisse Cullors, and Mark-Anthony Johnson are signing “Black Lives Cherish” in American Sign Language in solidarity with members of the Black disabled community who are disproportionately targeted by police.

Produce box The produce box represents mutual aid and food justice work of neighbors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Street vendor making pupusas Southern California is home to countless street vendors – oftentimes the only source of income for immigrants. Pupusas are a staple food to people from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and other Central American countries.

Sunflower A sunflower represents the late Mely Corado, who was killed by LAPD in 2018 while working as a manager at a Trader Joe’s in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Silverlake. Sunflowers were Mely’s favorite flower and are known for always facing the sun.

Since March 2021, the mural has served as a backdrop to BLM-LA's weekly rally to Fund Services Not Police and call for an End to Police Associations. It has been a dream to be part of making an artwork that can be mobilized by community organizers and amplifies the work they are doing in the streets. The mural faces the unmarked Los Angeles Police Protective League headquarters directly across the street. The contrast between the two buildings is like a battle of aesthetics in public space – on the one side you have justice and healing and growth, and on the other, a faceless force that perpetuates pain and injustice.

The resilient portraits in “The Care We Create” stand in vigil from morning to night, demanding justice, accountability, and an end to state violence now and into the future. We know what a better tomorrow looks like and we’re not going to stop until we make it a reality for all.

About the Artist

Audrey Chan (b. 1982, Chicago, Illinois) is a Los Angeles-based artist and educator. Her research-based projects use drawing, painting, video, and public art to challenge dominant historical narratives through allegories of power, place, and identity. She received an MFA from California Institute of the Arts and a BA with Honors from Swarthmore College. She was commissioned by LA Metro to create a large-scale public artwork for the future Little Tokyo/Arts District Metro Station, opening in 2022. She was a Visiting Artist Faculty in the Program in Art at California Institute of the Arts and the inaugural artist-in-residence at the ACLU of Southern California.  

Artist Statement

“The Care We Create is about our collective future and is rooted in the powerful stories of people exercising their rights and demanding dignity and respect for their communities," said Audrey Chan. "As an artist, it has been an honor to work alongside the ACLU of Southern California and their community partners to uplift people fighting for a just society. My hope is that this mural will be a constant reminder that the work of challenging systems that perpetuate injustice is a profound expression of love and compassion.”

Acknowledgments

Collaborating Partners: Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles, People’s City Council, TransLatin@ Coalition, and Ktown for All

Art Consultant: Ana Iwataki

Fabricators/Painters: Eder Cetina, Juan “Gogo” Hernandez, David “Dense” Zajdman, Keefer “Keef” Butterworth, Fernando Mendoza, Dan Boer, and Frank “Kodak” Armstead of the LA Art Collective & Wilson Cetina Group 

Photographer: Elon Schoenholz

Land Acknowledgement

The ACLU of Southern California acknowledges Indigenous people as the original stewards of the lands on which we now live.  

We acknowledge our Los Angeles office's presence on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Gabrielino-Tongva peoples. The collective work of those pictured in the mural The Care We Create (2020) designed by Audrey Chan, and of the ACLU of Southern California takes place across the ancestral lands of the Gabrieleno-Tongva, Chumash, Cahuilla, Tataviam, Serrano, Kitanemuk, Juaneño, and Luiseño peoples. We recognize them as the traditional caretakers of these lands, the legacy of violence, settlement, and displacement these people suffered and survived. We recognize the importance of reverting this common history, of which we are all a part, by engaging in meaningful indigenous justice work today and in the future. 

The mural is a testament to the power of coming together to fight for community healing and social justice. In the words of artist Audrey Chan, “The Care We Create is about our collective future and is rooted in the powerful stories of people exercising their rights and demanding dignity and respect for their communities." It is with this sentiment that we acknowledge Indigenous people and their efforts to uphold their sovereignty, stories, and identities. By committing ourselves to Indigenous justice, building authentic, mutual, and lasting relationships with tribes and Indigenous communities, we honor and stand with them as they work tirelessly toward justice and healing.