And if we are lucky enough to be in a position of power, if our voice and our actions can mobilize change, don't we have a special obligation? Being an ally can't just be about nodding when someone says something we agree with - important as that is. It must also be about action. It's our job to stand up for those who are not at the table when life-altering decisions are made. Not just those people who look like us. Not just those who need what we need. Not just those who have gained an audience with us. Our duty is to improve the human condition - in every way we can, for everyone who needs it.

[B]eing an ally means you need to be active. It’s not enough to be non-racist. You need to be anti-racist. It may not be easy, but you need to use your voice and your privilege in the moment to speak up when you see something wrong being done. Even if it is “only” a microaggression…

That persons have opposing interests and seek to advance their own conception of the good is not at all the same thing as their being moved by envy and jealousy.

If you want to be an ally, you have to listen and truly hear what it is that African people are saying. We are equal partners. It is not one group dictating the way the relationship should be. It is a partnership where we listen to each other and truly hear each other. We can learn from each other, but it has to be an equal relationship.

History reminds us that walls can be torn down. But the task is never easy. True partnership and true progress requires constant work and sustained sacrifice. They require sharing the burdens of development and diplomacy; of progress and peace. They require allies who will listen to each other, learn from each other and, most of all, trust each other.

We must not be taken as enemies of progress. We should be taken as friends of progress…whatever the situation, we must be seen to also have the guts and will power to see that we try and contest for such leadership elections.

Where nature makes natural allies of us all, we can demonstrate that beneficial relations are possible even with those with whom we most deeply disagree-and this must someday be the basis of world peace and world law.

Our interests are very much aligned. Our attempts of cooperation are very much aligned.

We all agree on moving beyond alliances that are simply everyone ganging up against someone else, which does not mean isolation. Now it is a question of forming alliances based on shared programs.

Society between equals can only exist on the understanding that the interests of all are to be regarded equally.

Neither we nor the Soviet Union can wish away the differences between our two societies and our philosophies, but we should always remember that we do have common interests.

a real partnership in which all parties help all others to be more fully themselves

All the peoples of the world are in effect partners in this interest, and for our own part we see very clearly that unless justice be done to others it will not be done to us.

The philanthropist, the politician, and the pimp are inevitably found in alliance because they have the same motives, they seek the same ends, to exist for, through, and by others.