Allyship, Antiracism and the Strength of Weak Ties: A Barber, a Professor and an Entrepreneur Walk Into a Room

Abstract

COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter are urgent challenges that are knocking on the health promotion profession’s door. The obvious tactic for those who aspire to be trusted allies is to answer. This editorial defines health promotion allyship as a continuous process where those who are part of in groups, such as white males, seek to build trust with, and provide visible advocacy for, out groups such as Black people. We will know we are effective allies only when we are recognized as such by out groups. The public health anti-racism movement started by Dr. Camara Phyllis Jones is summarized along with the introduction of a framework that can serve as a call to action for the health promotion profession. The exemplary allyship that occurred at an event later coined as The Lincoln Cottage Assembly is also described.

The “Best of 2020 List” of Health Promotion Researchers

“…Like countless other writers in 2020, I have described how the COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the legacy of health inequities experienced by Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC). 12 Indeed, do an internet search on "COVID-19 laid bare" and you'll see results confirming that "laid bare" is how a deluge of writers have described a syndemic where a pernicious virus has exacerbated a crisis of racial discrimination. One of our Associate Editor's in Chief here at AJHP, Dr. Sara Johnson, won this year's "Editor in Chief Paper of the Year" award in recognition of her usual meticulously referenced writing about any subject she tackles alongside her vivid confrontation of the 2020 syndemic.…”

“…Many are saying that it is time to desegregate the workforce in health care and make mastery of the effects of structural racism a core professional medical competency." 2,12 "Effective health promotion solutions that meet the needs of a diverse array of team members cannot be developed without more representation of those voices and perspectives." Sara Johnson…”

“…They found those who received NRT were 15% more likely to re-enroll in individual services than those who were not reached by phone and concluded that "access to free NRT without a telephone-coaching requirement is a draw for tobacco users, especially those with lower income and the uninsured." 4,12 Dr. Pamela Sinicrope and colleagues won our "Dorothy Nyswander Paper of the Year Award" for their pilot study of a cancer literacy project for Navajo women. Nyswander is considered the pioneer of the field of health education and she called for an "open society" which was a society "where diversity is respected; where pressure groups cannot stifle and control the will of the majority or castigate the individual; where education brings upward mobility to all; where the best of health care is available to all; where poverty is a community disgrace not an individual's weakness."…”

The “Best of 2023 List” of Health Promotion Researchers

“…Well-meaning advice from those who claim to be allies. The isolation is unbearable… it’s easy to get the message that we don’t belong here.” As one who has professed allyship and written about my basket full of privilege, 3 I know I need to put aside my trepidation about overstepping and stay open to sustained dialogue that may someday put my cluelessness to rest.…”

Ken the Movie: Allyship and When KENough is not Enough

“…Still, I wished they had at least introduced principles of allyship as I have attempted in these pages in the past. 2,3 So, herewith, I submit a working draft of the screenplay for Ken the Movie.…”