Today’s episode is GOLD. I had the honor of sitting down with an insta-crush of mine, Dani Coke of So Happy Social and Oh Happy Dani to talk all about what it means to be an ally and to love our neighbors well.
Danielle Coke is a graphic designer and social media strategist from Atlanta, Georgia.
She owns So Happy Social, a creative studio that specializes in social media marketing for positive brands doing meaningful work.
She is passionate about social justice and uses her platform and her god-gifted talents to educate others on diversity and inclusion.
Listen to the Episode Now!
What does it mean to be an ally?
An ally is someone who is willing to go alongside someone else who is experiencing marginalization or oppression – a lack of justice.
As an ally, you’re saying, “I’m going to align myself with this person and support them and use the privilege that I might have in that circumstance to uplift them and amplify their voice.”
The root cause is a domino effect of how small injustices build up into oppression and the need for people to rise up and do their part to make a difference.
“You can look around every day and see moments where we are just in desperate need of someone taking a stand and saying, ‘You know, this isn’t the way we were created to live, and we can do something about it.'”
Powerful quotes to sit with from Dani Coke
“I have to decide to just say the truth. I have to make the decision to choose pursuing justice over my comfort level and prioritizing the fact that we need to know what’s going on before we can actively engage in fixing it. Not that we can’t fix it without fully knowing, but fully knowing gives us more context to how we can specifically make a difference in these different areas of injustice.”
“It’s important to always look toward the light in every situation. Not everything’s going to feel good, but in every moment you can look and say, ‘what is the good in this? What is the good I can pull out of it, even though it’s not inherently good in and of itself?'”
“To intentionally stay positive in light of these issues is taking yourself and the issue and connecting the dots and seeing how can I make a difference in this area?”
What else do we talk about in this episode?
- Dani Coke shares 5 steps we can take to address systemic racism and social injustices in our own backyard
- Dani shares some encouragement for when we need the stamina to keep going and pressing forward toward issues
- How to select the causes you want to personally support
