You're listening to Code Switch, I'm Shereen Marisol Maraji and here's a question.

Who stands with you, as opposed to standing for you?

And to figure out the answer, I have our esteemed Code Switch correspondent Karen Greek's

EPi Bates in studio with me, Hey Bates.

Hey Shereen, let's start with an example a lot of us might remember.

The lemonade album was just so monumental, Beyonce, so monumental.

That's Adele from the Grammys last month accepting her award for best album, but Bates,

it actually sounded like she wanted one for a best ally.

I'm the way that you make me and my friends feel, the way you make my black friends feel

is empowering and you make them stand up for themselves.

I actually really believe that that came from a place of sincerity.

Do you know?

I do, I do, but people on my feet are still sucking their teeth about it.

Which leads us to what we're doing today, exploring the intricacies of being an ally,

and asking some hard questions about what that means to those who see themselves as allies,

and what that means to those getting the ally ship done to them.

As we thought about who would have a good perspective on this notion of ally ship,

and I'm using the air quotes that you and Jean love so much Shereen, because I don't

think that's a real word, but okay, we met with three women of color and one woke white

guy.

Karen, that sounds like a new rap crew.

I'm just saying three women of color and one woke white guy.

...