In the face of the injustice and racial tension America is experiencing, now is the time for white allies to spring into action. But some of you may be wondering where to begin. There are many ways to be a good ally, but I believe several of the possibilities to help stem from these five simple actions.

Learn to Listen

You might be surprised at how much listening plays a role in being a helpful ally. For so long, people of color have felt shut down and drowned out of the conversation. We have been talked over, pushed aside, and unheard. So simply having an ear to listen makes all the difference. Allowing POC to speak up and truly be heard builds a bridge this country desperately needs in order for us to repair the damage done. It also allows the truest POC experience to be told, as only we know exactly how our lives are lived. If you want the truest representation, go straight to the source.

Practice Empathy

To empathize is to understand and share the feelings of another. Simply put, take a moment to place yourself in the shoes of a person of color. When your friend is telling you how fed up she is with police brutality and how it pains her to see the fear in her brother’s eyes when a police officer pulls him over, image how that must feel. Imagine how it would feel to see your sibling fear someone they are meant to look up to. Take a second to fully explore the POC experience. Envision the emotional roller coaster you might ride existing within a society that loves your culture but hasn’t shown the same love to you and people like you throughout history. When your friend tells you a story about something they experience, go along with them for that journey. While you have no way of truly knowing how it feels, it can be helpful for your friend and yourself to open up to those emotions. It is easy to dismiss the injustices POC are facing and the emotional toll that can take on a person. By empathizing, you begin to remember we too, are only human.

Educate Yourself

This is a step that should be common sense, but it often is not. While your friends will share stories with you and you'll learn from those shared experiences, it is also important to take the time to educate yourself. There's so much history that has shaped the way for today’s racial climate and you cannot expect your friends to be your personal tutor. POC have spent centuries fighting to be seen, to be heard, to be humanized. It is an exhausting struggle and we cannot always be the ones to show you the way. You need to take the initiative to do some of your own research. Google is a wonderful tool, use it.

Acknowledge Your Privilege

Possibly the most difficult step in being an ally is to acknowledge your own privilege. There are levels to privilege. There is white privilege but there is also able-bodied privilege and cisgender privilege. There is heterosexual privilege. There is light skinned privilege within the black community. The point is that every person has some sort of privilege that someone else does not. We must all acknowledge our privileges in order to see how they unfairly benefit us and make life more difficult for others. Acknowledging and being aware of your privileges makes it easier for you to see the injustices others face due to their lack of privilege in a certain area. This in turns allows you to help tear down the systems that uphold these privileges to make the world a more equal and inclusive space.

Utilize Your Privilege

Now, this may come as a shock, but you can use your privilege for good, and you should! When you are out with a friend and someone says something racist to them, your friend may be weary of speaking up. Especially for black women, we have a fine line to walk when addressing racist behavior. Say nothing, and the behavior goes unchecked. On the other hand, defending yourself as a black woman can easily get you thrown into the trope of the Angry Black Woman. This is the perfect time for you to use your privilege to say something. In my experience, white people are more accepting of a criticism of racist behavior when another white person calls them out. In many cases, it also opens the door for others around to say, “Hey! I think that is wrong too!” Using your privilege and bravery, you can change a negative situation into a learning moment while also giving others the bravery to speak up too.

That being said, there is no scientific equation on how to become the perfect ally, but this is a start. There will be struggles as you learn the best ways to be an ally to those around you. Much of the training is trial and error, but these tips will help you to avoid some common mistakes. By first making the choice to help your marginalized friends, you’ve already taken a step in the right direction and you’ll learn from each experience, positive and negative, along the way.