Real talk: Raising the bar for white allies

With the founders of Safety Pin Box

This week, we talked to the founders of Safety Pin Box. After the election, safety pins were everywhere. They are a symbol of allyship, but many feel very strongly that wearing a pin does not make you an ally. In response to the “Safety Pin Fever,” Marissa and Leslie founded their organization “to raise the bar for white allies invested in supporting Black freedom fighters AND to build a sustainable way to provide support for Black Women organizers including ourselves.”

Safety Pin Box is a monthly subscription box for white people striving to be allies in the fight for Black Liberation. Box memberships are a way to not only financially support Black femme freedom fighters, but also complete measurable tasks in the fight against white supremacy.

How did Safety Pin Box come into being?

Safety Pin Box was created in response to the “Safety Pin Fever” that hit after Election 2016. While on vacation a few days after the election, Marissa Jenae Johnson & Leslie Mac had a conversation about the useless & performative nature of the safety pin as an act of allyship. After seeing the commercialization of the safety pin symbol — by way of $300 safety pins on Etsy & Cosmo articles about “how to wear your safety pin”, we sought out to create a way to raise the bar for white allies invested in supporting Black freedom fighters AND to build a sustainable way to provide support for Black Women organizers including ourselves.

But the product is just one part…can you talk about the redistribution?//What makes this model different?

At the heart of our business is our Black Women Being program which redirects portions of our subscription sales direct to individual Black Women organizers. It is based on a very simple premise, Black Women don’t have to prove anything to us. We know through our own work as organizers that the lion share of liberation work is done by Black Women and goes largely uncompensated. We also know that when you fund Black Women, you fund the revolution. We give to Black Women organizers with no expectations of how they use the money and no concerns about vetting their work. We give it to them for simply BEING.

What is the biggest thing you have learned so far?//How have you been changed by the experience?

Besides all the ins & outs of business ownership, which has definitely been a large area of growth for us both, the most surprising thing has been the reaction of Black Women who are selected each month for the Black Women Being program. Without fail, we hear from them that they aren’t sure if they are “worthy” of the gift. We internalize so many of the messages we receive as Black Women that tell us our talents aren’t valuable. It’s also been interesting watching our subscribers wrestle with the content we send them. So many of them tell us that they had no idea how LITTLE they were doing before joining Safety Pin Box.

Who are you following right now that you love?//Who do you look to for inspiration?

We take a lot of inspiration from RaceBaitR — they provide incredibly nuanced and thought provoking content and also DiDi Delgado has been writing some great pieces around allyship & white women in particular lately.

If you’re a white ally, raise the bar and visit the website to subscribe to Safety Pin Box!

And no one is too young to be an ally. This summer, SPBKids is rolling out with an 8-week series—plus, just for reading, you can use the code CTZNWELL to receive 10% off!)

This conversation was featured in CTZNWELL’s weekly newsletter WELLread, a round up N2K information so you can use your time to take care of yourself, organize like the badass that you are, and actively protect our people and planet.

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