This past week on Facebook I have come across a couple articles and videos that undermined many of the social movements people are currently fighting with and completely missed the boat on the real message of these movements. One thing that frustrates people in a social movement is their allies. Allies in these cases are people who are not directly affected by the problem at hand, but still care dearly about equality and progress within the society. These allies are directed to act with the movement, (join rallies, walk in marches, yell in chants, etc.) but understand that they are not and possibly will never be affected by whatever it is being challenged. Often times, people are quick to come to this realization and continue fighting as allies, but a very large percent of the time these allies ask, “why are you excluding me?” when it is almost never the case.

Last night, I read an article in which Sri Lankan rapper M.I.A. attacks Kendrick Lamar and Beyoncé for their stance on Black Lives Matter. She says,

“Is Beyoncé or Kendrick Lamar going to say Muslim Lives Matter? Or Syrian Lives Matter? Or this kid in Pakistan matters? That’s a more interesting question. And you cannot ask it on a song that’s on Apple, you cannot ask it on an American TV program, you cannot create that tag on Twitter, Michelle Obama is not going to hump you back.”

M.I.A., who routinely advocates for the safety of refugees in her music calls out the artists because they are not pioneering any movement. She continues,

“It’s interesting that in America the problem you’re allowed to talk about is Black Lives Matter. It’s not a new thing to me — it’s what Lauryn Hill was saying in the 1990s, or Public Enemy in the 1980s.

Yes, it is very true that artists were talking about the same things decades ago, but it shows the severity and longevity of this problem. Lauryn Hill was critically acclaimed for her only solo album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, but it did little to impact the current state of the black community because white America did not want it to. While she speaks nothing but facts (I strongly urge you to listen to it, it’s simply amazing) society gave her a pat on the back and continued on with their lives. No one outside of our movement took the work as seriously as it was. Also, since when were we “allowed” to even talk about this? Every time we spoke up about injustices we were torn right back down. From the Civil Rights Movement to the MOVE bombings in Philadelphia, to Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy snub, to Beyoncé’s Formation backlash, we have never been “allowed” to talk about any of this.

M.I.A. is doing exactly what white America has done with All Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter, trends that were conceived in pure retaliation to the original movement. She is taking the trend as an exclusionary movement and taking offense. Instead of being an ally, which she has done many times before, she is undermining the progress trying to be made and is diverting attention away from the movement. No one has ever said that Syrian and Muslim lives don’t matter, but we are trying to focus one movement on one problem. When people speak about how bad Muslims are to the country, I guarantee that most of us are denouncing those individual’s comments! We stand as allies of the Muslim community and will speak up when need be, but when we are speaking under the Black Lives Matter organization, we are speaking about black lives.

The other thing that upset me was a video on feminism.

Her first argument is that if feminism was a movement for equality why don’t we see men’s issues being represented? Simple, because it’s a movement for women’s equality. It is meant to elevate women to the tier men are on, not drag down men to meet them halfway. She says men are raped more in U.S. prisons than women. Well 1. men are much more violent than women and are much more likely to carry out violent crime, including rape, than women are. 2. If men are already more likely to commit violent crime, and most of these men clearly have or else they wouldn’t be in jail, then they would do it again, right? 3. They’re separated by gender so if a violent criminal is looking to commit a violent crime again, it would HAVE to be with a male, right? Cool. Next.

Her second argument is that almost half of the domestic abuse victims in the U.S. and Canada are men. I believe that 100%! Yes, women are just as likely to hit their men as vice versa, but women are much less likely to cause significant harm. Let’s face it, women are generally weaker than men, so if a woman slaps her man, that very well could be it. Whereas if a man punches his wife, she could be down for the count. This is why there are safe houses for women, because they are much more often to be in legitimate danger than men are. Of course there are still cases of severe abuse against men, but it is not nearly as often. Next.

Men are 77% of homicide victims. Very true, but that brings be back to my previous point of men being more likely to commit violent crime. Believe it or not, there is still a sense of chivalry in the criminal community. Women are still protected by men and for this reason are less likely to be victims of violent crime at the hands of a man. Here’s a scenario, a man or woman can get robbed, but it takes much more effort to overpower a man and in this struggle it can lead to more crimes. They can get into an altercation, should the male victim refuse, and could eventually get killed. Yes, this may be an extreme case, but it nonetheless happens.

Before this post becomes a novel, I am going to end it with this: Being an ally is fighting with the people for the people their advocating, not bringing in the “other”. The Black Lives Matter movement is meant to uplift the black community, as the feminist movement is meant to uplift women. The other side of both movements clearly has it better than these minorities otherwise these movements would not exist. To be an ally is to recognize that you are the “other” in these movements and assist them in their progress. It is not up to you to dictate their rhetoric or their stance. It is up to you to represent the other and show that you stand in solidarity to these movements. In all actuality, these allies are often there to give the campaign legitimacy. If no other recognized the inequality in these minority groups, it would be easy to dismiss, but because there are people who have ripped off their blinders and recognize the disorganization in our society, we must come face to face with these movements and try to change our environment.