Effective Allyship and Advocacy with the ACLU’s Amber Hikes

The March 26 event is part of the ongoing series From the Ashes of Relentless Racial Crises: Creating a New United States of America.

 Tuesday, March 12, 2024 09:07 AM

A Black person in a blue jacket smiles at the camera.

Amber Hikes, deputy executive director for strategy and culture at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), will speak at Muhlenberg College on Tuesday, March 26, 6–7:30 pm in Miller Forum, Moyer Hall. 

Hikes will present tips and strategies for practicing effective allyship and advocacy. In keeping with the series' theme of encouraging widespread solidarity, Hikes' talk will elucidate the crucial role solidarity can play in dismantling inequity and societal hierarchies.

The event is presented by the College’s Africana Studies Program and the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program. It is free and open to the public but requires registration through this link.

Hikes (they/she) is a social justice advocate, community organizer, TED Talk Speaker and unapologetically queer and Black. Previously, they served as the ACLU’s first chief equity and inclusion officer. In 2017, Hikes introduced the world to the More Color, More Pride flag, launching a global conversation around anti-racism in the LGBTQ community. On the heels of this monumental work, Hikes released a TED Talk with two million views, helping build a network of intersectional accomplices changing the landscape of equity, inclusion and belonging in the workplace. 

Hikes has been recognized nationally by OUT Magazine as “Community Organizer of the Year” in the 2018 OUT 100 and by Business Equality Pride as one of the 40 LGBTQ Leaders Under 40. Hikes earned a master’s degree in social work from the University of Pennsylvania and psychology and English degrees from the University of Delaware. Hikes believes in employing an intersectional lens in all aspects of community work and leans daily on the words of sister Audre Lorde: “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle, because we do not live single-issue lives.”

The event is co-sponsored by the Office of Equity and Title IX, Office of the Provost, Office of Religious & Spiritual Life, Office of the Dean of Students and the Women’s and Gender Studies Program.