Glossary of Terms: In Support of a Shared Language

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Agent Group

Members of dominant socio-political groups who are privileged and knowingly or unknowingly exploit and benefit from unfair, and unearned advantages over members of discriminated, marginalized, and subordinate groups.

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Ally

1. A person or group that actively uses the privilege afforded them by society (e.g. white privilege, male privilege, etc.) to take down the structures that distribute benefits to the group the ally is part of. 2. A person or group that commodifies and exploits solidarity with oppressed groups for financial or social gain. In the words of the unnamed Indigenous author of the article Accomplices Not Allies: Abolishing the Ally Industrial Complex, “Where struggle is commodity, allyship is currency. Ally has also become an identity, disembodied from any real mutual understanding of support.”

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Apartheid

Apartheid involves the forced spatial separation of people by imposed racial categories which are placed in a hierarchy (in South Africa it was whites at the top, Indians, coloreds (mixed race), Cape Malays and Chinese in the middle, and blacks at the bottom). New forms of apartheid do not invoke race explicitly in laws to avoid condemnation and legal suits, but rely on less direct ways to enforce separation and hierarchy, such as market-driven gentrification, gated communities, incarceration, explicit or implicit ethnic-based nationalist laws, and contemporary forms of redlining.

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Bias

A preference or an inclination, especially one that inhibits impartial judgment.  An unfair act, attitude or policy stemming from prejudice. Tendency, often unconscious, to interpret facts according to one’s own values (views, assumptions).

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Color Blindness

The idea that race no longer matters in explaining equality or in policy making based on the notion that racism has been eliminated / overcome. Ideology whereby race is not explicitly acknowledged.

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Color-Blind Racism

A belief system that equates any acknowledgement of race with racism. Assimilation with the dominant (white) culture is encouraged and held up as a sign that we live in a “post-racial” society. This belief system ignores the historical legacies of racist practices in the US.

 

Collusion

Thinking, feeling, and acting in ways that accept the dominant group’s ideology about one’s own target group and accepting a definition of oneself that is hurtful and limiting often involving the demonstration of devaluating one’s own group and self as a member of that group. NOTE this involves the target group member actively supporting oppression, as opposed to passive internalization.

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Discrimination

Treatment or consideration based on perceived category status rather than individual merit; partiality or prejudice. The unequal treatment of persons of various groups, often on the basis of prejudice. The practice of treating people differently on the basis of race and/or ethnicity

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Discriminatory Behaviors

The differential allocation of goods, resources, and services, and the limitation of access to full participation in society based on individual membership in a particular social group.

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Diversity

Variety; difference

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Ethnicity

Culturally distinctive characteristics based on cultural traditions including religion, language, forms of family structure, dietary customs, artistic expression and national origin, but also understood often in relationship to race. 2. A shared cultural heritage or nationality

 

Ethnocentrism

A tendency to view one’s own ethnic group, and associated culture, as the norm. The belief that one’s own culture is superior to all others and is the standard by which all other cultures should be measured.

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Global Learning

A critical analysis of and an engagement with complex, interdependent global systems and legacies (such as natural, physical, social, cultural, economic, and political) and their implications for people’s lives and the earth’s sustainability

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Implicit or Unconscious Bias

Mental associations that operate with or without conscious self-awareness, intention, or control (Wellesley College)

 

Individual Oppression

Actions that reflect prejudice against a social group.

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Internalized Entitlement

Behaviors, thoughts, and feelings among members of empowered socio-political groups, who through their socialization as members of these groups, learn to think and act in ways that express internalized notions of merit and privilege.

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Intercultural Experience

The experience of an interaction with an individual or groups of people whose culture is different from your own

Intercultural Knowledge and Competence

A set of cognitive, affective, and behavioral skills and characteristics that support effective and appropriate interaction in a variety of cultural contexts.

 

Institutional Discrimination

Processes which, intentionally, or not, result in the continued exclusion of a subordinate group and activities and practices which are intended to protect the advantages of the dominant group and/or maintain or widen the unequal position of a subordinate group.

 

Institutional Oppression

Policies, laws, rules, norms, systems, and customs that are organized and embedded in institutions that disadvantage some social groups and advantage other social groups. Some of these institutions include religious organizations, government, education, law, the media, and health care system.

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Institutional Racism

A term coined in the late 1960s to recognize that “racism need not be individualist, essentialist or intentional… Institutional racism can be prescribed by formal rules but depends, minimally, on organizational cultures that tolerate such behaviors. Racist institutional decisions neither require nor preclude the participation of racist individuals” (Toward a Structural Racism Framework, Grant-Thomas & powell).  The network of institutional structures, policies and practices that create advantages and benefits for Whites, and discrimination, oppression, and disadvantages for people from targeted racial groups.

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Interpersonal Racism

Common popular definitions of racism are often limited to actions, beliefs and feelings based on race, also know as interpersonal racism. This limited definition often carries implications that racism: 1. exists primarily in individuals; 2. is either present or is not (no gray area, a.k.a. essentialism); 3. must be intentional; and 4. consists exclusively of actions or words that are race-targeted (Toward a Structural Racism Framework, Grant-Thomas & Powell).

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Intersectionality

Systems of oppression often exploit and reinforce each other. Racism, ableism, patriarchy, sexism, transphobia, the capitalist class system, and colonialism intersect and are often thoroughly dependent on each other. For example, black people with disabilities and black trans men are the targets of violence more often than able-bodied, cis-gendered black men or white people with disabilities and white trans men. Intersectional organizing is an attempt to counter the “oppression Olympics,” where victims of different systems of oppression vie for priority and undermine one another.

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Microaggression

Subtle, everyday expressions of verbal or behavioral insults or assaults based on racial, ethnic, gender, gender identity, class, and/or sexuality that typically communicate hostile, derogatory, and/or negative slights or insults which are typically experienced in social and organization contexts resulting in the recipient being made to feel unwelcome, isolated, unsafe, and/or alienated. Forms typically are assaults, insults, inequalities or invalidations but ultimately fail to challenge larger “isms”

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Minority

A social group that possesses less resources, prestige, presumed worth, and ultimately power, and therefore occupies an inferior social position, in which its interests are not effectively represented in the political, economic, and social institutions of the society.

 

New Jim Crow

A set of nominally non-racial institutions and policies that coalesce to rob black men in particular of their physical freedom, the right to vote, and rights to social benefits such as housing subsidies. Young men of color pass through the school-to-prison pipeline, subject to unevenly enforced drug laws and forms of racial profiling, and kept under the control of correctional systems for the rest of their lives. The New Jim Crow begins where old Jim Crow left off, leaving a racial caste system in place and destroying lives, families and communities.

 

Personal and Social Responsibility

The ability to recognize one’s responsibilities to society–locally, nationally, and globally–and to develop a perspective on ethical and power relations both across the globe and within individual societies.

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Positionality

Aspects of one’s identity such as race, gender identity, sexual orientation, class, and age, and the relative power in society that each of these aspects does or does not afford. In other words, your positionality describes your relationship to people of other identities in terms of social power.

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Power

Access to resources that enhance one’s chances of getting what one needs in order to lead a safe, comfortable, and productive life.

 

Privilege

Access to something of value solely because of one’s social identity membership to particular social groups.

 

Prejudice

A set of usually negative beliefs about a social group that leads individuals to prejudge people from that group or the group in general, regardless of individual differences among members of that group. Opinion or feelings formed beforehand, without knowledge, thought, or reason – preconceived notion/opinion or feeling either favorable or unfavorable.

 

Race

A false classification of people who supposedly share physical and cultural traits and/or common ancestry based on social and political ideas, not accurate biological or scientific data or scientific interpretation. A political and social construction, created by people for political and/or social purposes. (Intergroup Relations –U of Michigan, 2008).

 

Racial Justice

The proactive reinforcement of policies, practices, attitudes, and actions that produce equitable power, opportunities, treatment, impacts, and outcomes for all.

 

Racism

The systematic subordination of members of targeted racial groups who have less power (Blacks, Latino/as, Native Americans, and Asians), by the members of the dominant racial group who have relatively more economic, political, and social power (Whites). This subordination is supported by the actions of individuals, cultural norms and values, and the institutional structures and practices of society. (Intergroup Relations –U of Michigan, 2008).

 

Redlining

The practice of denying services on the basis of race in order to control the racial composition of a neighborhood or other space. Denying housing mortgages to blacks in many neighborhoods was law in the mid-20th century after the National Housing Act of 1934. If you compare the maps used to implement redlining laws with maps of racial composition today, the impact of those laws today is obvious. Today redlining is done implicitly or extra-legally, as when home- and auto-insurance companies deny coverage to people based on the racial composition of their zip code or profiles that correspond to race.

 

Respectability Politics

Telling individuals or communities of oppressed peoples to act more like the dominant group in order to receive fair treatment and respect. Respectability politics assumes that any bad outcome for black people and other oppressed peoples is caused by their own behavior, ignoring history and differences in power, and can be solved if oppressed peoples just change their behavior— pronounce words in a particular white dialect, pull up their pants, or listen to different music. In the imagination of respectability politics, police brutality, mass incarceration, and economic inequalities will all vanish with a few superficial changes. The politics of respectability often employs the language of class, e.g. “have some class,” due to the tendency to conflate class and race. Related to tone policing.

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Reverse Discrimination

Discriminatory policies or acts that benefit a socio-politically non-dominant group at the expense of a socio-politically dominant group.

 

Structural Racism

A framework for understanding racism that includes interpersonal racism, institutional racism, and adds the interactions between various institutions as a factor contributing to racial disparities. This framework holds that “the operation of different institutional actors within and across domains such as education, employment, healthcare and criminal justice jointly produce social opportunities and outcomes. This interdependence has profound implications for transmitting inequality across domains and for remedying inequality.” The structural racism framework focuses on the racially distributed outcomes of policies and institutional interactions, and does not require that policies, etc. be race-based to consider them to have racist impacts (Toward a Structural Racism Framework, Grant-Thomas & powell) ; Practices, customs, rules and standards of organizations that unnecessarily disadvantage people because of their race, color or ethnicity. They do not always involve differences in treatment

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Social Justice

Includes a vision of society in which the distribution of resources is equitable and all members are empowered and are physically and psychologically safe and secure. (Intergroup Relations –U of Michigan, 2008).

 

Stereotypes

Undifferentiated, simplistic attributions that involve a judgment of habits, traits, abilities, or expectations and are assigned as a characteristic to all members of a group regardless of individual variation and with no attention to the relation between the attributions and the social contexts in which they have arisen. A generalization, usually exaggerated or oversimplified and often offensive, that is used to describe or distinguish a group.

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White Fragility

Feelings such as guilt and defensiveness that white people may exhibit when confronted with their racial identity and privilege. White people are socialized to see themselves and their culture as the center and the standard, and as non-racial. When pushed to acknowledge their white racial identity and the privilege that comes with it, many white people have feelings of anger, fear, confusion, numbness, guilt and defensiveness. When a white person holds these feelings as more important than the harm done to a person or people of color, that person is exhibiting white fragility.

 

White Privilege

Unearned advantages that white people acquire based on their European-American descent and/or physical appearance including higher expectations, benefit of the doubt, positive stereotyping, preferential treatment.  “A transparent preference for whiteness that saturates our society”. This manifests in opportunities, benefits, and protection from negative societal treatment which is generally enjoyed by white people and generally not available to people of color. These material, social and psychological benefits range from the light-toned “flesh-colored” bandaid to presumptions of competence to a greater chance of financial stability due to a history in which white people were able to accumulate wealth to a much greater extent than people of color; and there are countless other examples.

 

White Supremacy

White supremacy holds that people of European descent are more intelligent, civilized and valuable than people of color. This belief system was invented to justify white conquest of the world, and the enslavement and dispossession of peoples of color during the last 500 years. Today in the US, most people associate the phrase “white supremacy” with the Ku Klux Klan or other overt hate groups. Yet white supremacy is more insidious and widespread, reproducing itself in most institutions in society in both subtle and overt ways.

 

Whitewashing

How the role of people of color in organizations or historical movements is erased and whites are given undue credit, e.g. how the pioneering role that black musicians played in the development of rock music is neglected in favor of white musicians. Some music historians think that “rock and roll” started as a term for blues music played by white people, even if it was originally indistinguishable from that played by black people. The formative roles people of color played in the labor movement are likewise neglected.

 

Worldview

Cognitive and affective lens through which people construe their experiences and make sense of the world around them.

 

Xenophobia

The fear and/or contempt of that which is foreign, especially of strangers or foreign peoples.

 

 

Key Terms & Concepts

Essential to good reporting on race is understanding the context and historical background that many terms convey. This section of Race Forward’s Race Reporting Guide aims to inform reporting and support appropriate language and story framing. While not intended to be a traditional dictionary, the information provided here is intended to enhance understanding of some terminology and encourage usage that reflects cultural and racial awareness.

 

Affirmative action

This term describes policies adopted since the 1960s that require “affirmative” (or positive) actions be to taken to ensure people of color and women have opportunities equal to those of White men in the areas of promotions, salary increases, school admissions, financial aid, scholarships, and representation among vendors in government contracts. Although they have been effective in redressing injustice and discrimination that persisted in spite of civil rights laws and constitutional guarantees, the policies have been attacked because of perceived “reverse discrimination.” The Supreme Court has not ruled all affirmative action unconstitutional but has limited the use and ways which policies can be written and applied. See “Reverse discrimination.”

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Anti-racism

The work of actively opposing racism by advocating for changes in political, economic, and social life. Anti-racism tends to be an individualized approach, and set up in opposition to individual racist behaviors and impacts.

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Civil rights

A group of laws designed to protect various groups against discrimination based on race, sex, religion, age, national origin, and KEY TERMS & CONCEPTS 25 other characteristics. Often used in connection to the Civil Rights Movement, widely recognized as taking place from 1954 to 1968, which included issues and practices such as school desegregation, sit-ins, “Freedom rides,” voter registration campaigns, and other acts of civil disobedience to protest racial discrimination.

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Class

Classism is the systematic oppression of subordinated class groups, held in place by attitudes that rank people according to economic status, family lineage, job status, level of education, and other divisions. One’s race can be a major determinant of one’s social or economic class. The variables of race and class, though closely connected, each need distinct attention.

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“Colorblind”

A term used to describe a disregard of racial characteristics or lack of influence by racial prejudice. The concept of colorblindness is often promoted by those who dismiss the importance of race in order to proclaim the end of racism. It presents challenges when discussing diversity, which requires being racially aware, and equity that is focused on fairness for people of all races.

 

Colorism

Discrimination based on skin color, which often privileges lighter-skinned people within a racial group, positioning people with darker complexions at the bottom of the racial hierarchy. It is an example of how White supremacy can operate amongst the members of a single racial or ethnic group. This form of prejudice often results in reduced opportunities for those who are discriminated against, and numerous studies have revealed differences in life outcomes by complexion.

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Cultural appropriation or “misappropriation”

Adoption of elements of a culture that has been subordinated in social, political, economic, status by a different cultural group. It may rely on offensive stereotypes, and is insensitive to how the culture of a group has been exploited by the culture in power, often for profit.

 

Discrimination

Treatment of an individual or group based on their actual or perceived membership in a social category, usually used to describe unjust or prejudicial treatment on the grounds of race, age, sex, gender, ability, socioeconomic class, immigration status, national origin, or religion.

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Diversity

There are many kinds of diversity, based on race, gender, sexual orientation, class, age, country of origin, education, religion, geography, physical, or cognitive abilities. Valuing diversity means recognizing differences between people, acknowledging that these differences are a valued asset, and striving for diverse representation as a critical step towards equity. See “Equity.”

 

Equity

Equity means fairness and justice and focuses on outcomes that are most appropriate for a given group, recognizing different challenges, needs, and histories. It is distinct from diversity, which can simply mean variety (the presence of individuals with various identities). It is also not equality, or “same treatment,” which doesn’t take differing needs or disparate outcomes into account. Systemic equity involves a robust system and dynamic process consciously designed to create, support and sustain social justice. See “Racial Justice.”

 

Ethnicity

A socially constructed grouping of people based on culture, tribe, language, national heritage, and/or religion. It is often used interchangeably with race and/or national origin, but should be instead considered as an overlapping, rather than identical, category. See the section “Covering Key Issues with a Racial Lens” and the term “Racial & Ethnic Categories.”

 

Hate crime

Criminal acts, motivated by bias, that target victims based on their perceived membership in a certain social group. Incidents may involve physical assault, damage to property, bullying, harassment, verbal abuse, offensive graffiti, letters or email. Hate crime laws enhance the penalties associated with conduct that is already criminal under other laws.

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Implicit bias/unconscious bias

Attitudes that unconsciously affect our decisions and actions. People often think of bias as intentional, i.e. someone wanted to say something racist. However, brain science has shown that people are often unaware of their bias, and the concept of implicit bias helps describe a lot of contemporary racist acts that may not be overt or intentional. Implicit bias is just as harmful, so it is important to talk about race explicitly and to take steps to address it. Institutions are composed of individuals whose biases are replicated, and then produce systemic inequities. It is possible to interrupt implicit bias by adding steps to decision-making processes that thoughtfully consider and address racial impacts.

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Inclusion

Being included within a group or structure. More than simply diversity and quantitative representation, inclusion involves authentic and empowered participation, with a true sense of belonging and full access to opportunities.

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Intersectionality

The acknowledgement that multiple power dynamics/”isms” are operating simultaneously—often in complex and compounding ways—and must be considered together in order to have a more complete understanding of oppression and ways to transform it. There are multiple forms of privilege and oppression based on race, gender, class, sexuality, age, ability, religion, citizenship or immigration status, and so on. These social hierarchies are products of our social, cultural, political, economic, and legal environment. They drive disparities and divisions that help those in power maintain and expand their power. There’s a danger in falsely equating different dynamics (e.g. racism and sexism) or comparing different systems to each other (sometimes referred to as the “oppression Olympics”). It is important to give each dynamic distinct, specific and sufficient attention. Every person is privileged in some areas and disadvantaged in other areas.

 

Minority/minorities

A term that has historically referred to non-White racial groups, indicating that they were numerically smaller than the dominant White majority. Defining people of color as “minorities” is not recommended because of changing demographics and the ways in which it reinforces ideas of inferiority and marginalization of a group of people. Defining people by how they self-identify is often preferable and more respectful. The term “minority” may be needed in specific cases (such as “minority contracting” and “minority-owned businesses”) to reflect data that is collected using those categories. See the term “People of color,” and the section Covering Key Issues with a Racial Lens.

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Mixed race, biracial, multiracial

Generally accepted terms to describe a person who has mixed ancestry of two or more races. Many terms for people of various multiracial backgrounds exist, some of which are pejorative or are no longer used. The U.S. Census first gave the option for a person to identify as belonging to more than one race in 2000, at which time approximately 9 million individuals, or 2.9% of the population, self-identified as multiracial.

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Multicultural

Involving various cultures in a society, usually with intent to promote tolerance, inclusion, and equal respect for cultural diversity. Does not include an explicit racial lens. Multiculturalism often focuses on interpersonal interaction and communication between people of different cultures rather than a systemic approach to advance equity.

 

People of color

Often the preferred collective term for referring to non-White racial groups, rather than “minorities.” Racial justice advocates have been using the term “people of color” (not to be confused with the pejorative “colored people”) since the late 1970s as an inclusive and unifying frame across different racial groups that are not White, to address racial inequities. While “people of color” can be a politically useful term, and describes people with their own attributes (as opposed to what they are not, eg: “non-White”), it is also important whenever possible to identify people through their own racial/ethnic group, as each has its own distinct experience and meaning and may be more appropriate.

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“Post-racial”

A term used to describe a time in which racial prejudice and discrimination no longer exist. There are deep racial disparities and divisions across our society, and some are even widening. Much like the notion of “colorblindness,” the idea of a “post-racial” society does not acknowledge that racism and inequity sit at the core of many of our nation’s deepest challenges. See “Colorblind.”

 

Privilege

A set of advantages systemically conferred on a particular person or group of people. White people are racially privileged, even if they are economically underprivileged. Privilege and oppression go hand-in-hand: they are two sides of the same power relationship, and both sides of the equation must be understood and 30 addressed. People can be disadvantaged by one identity and privileged by another. See “Intersectionality,” “White supremacy.”

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Race

While often assumed to be a biological classification, based on physical and genetic variation, racial categories do not have a scientific basis. However, the consequences of racial categorization are real, as the ideology of race has become embedded in our identities, institutions, and culture, and is used as a basis for discrimination and racial profiling. How one is racialized is a major determinant of one’s socioeconomic status and life opportunities. See “Racial & ethnic categories.”

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Racial & ethnic categories

System of organizing people into groups based on their identified race and ethnicity, with categories that may change over time. Data is derived from self-identification questions; however, people often do not get to select the categories from which they must choose, making most methods of categorizing and counting highly political and often problematic. See the section Covering Key Issues “Reporting on Racial And Ethnic Groups.”

 

Racial hierarchy

Ranking of different races/ethnic groups, based on physical and perceived characteristics. Racial hierarchy is not a binary of White vs. non-White, rather a complex system where groups occupy different rungs of political, economic and cultural power. Racist ideology relies on maintaining hierarchies, even among racial groups.

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Racial justice

The systematic fair treatment of people of all races, resulting in equitable opportunities and outcomes for all. Racial justice—or racial equity—goes beyond “anti-racism.” It is not just the absence 31 of discrimination and inequities, but also the presence of deliberate systems and supports to achieve and sustain racial equity through proactive and preventative measures.

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Racial profiling

The discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting people of color for suspicion of crime without evidence of criminal activity, based on their perceived race, ethnicity, national origin or religion (e.g., “stop and frisk”). Racial profiling is ineffective, damages community-police relationships, and is being litigated around the country as a violation of constitutional rights. However, racial profiling continues to be used by law enforcement authorities at the federal, state, and local levels.

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Racial slur

Derogatory, pejorative, or insulting terms for members of a racial or ethnic group. While some slurs, like the “n-word” are understood as such and are avoided, some slurs are still used in everyday speech, with little understanding of their harm. Two such examples that are inaccurate, racially charged, and should not be used: • “Illegals” Many outlets have changed their style guides to stop using “illegal” as it applies to immigrants as a result of Race Forward’s Drop the I-Word campaign. For more information visit droptheiword.com. “Redskin” Despite being a dictionary-defined slur, it remains in use as the team name for the Washington NFL franchise. There has been widespread campaign for the renaming of the team, as well as other sports teams that continue to use offensive names.

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Racism

Historically rooted system of power hierarchies based on race— infused in our institutions, policies and culture—that benefit White people and hurt people of color. Racism isn’t limited to individual acts of prejudice, either deliberate or accidental. Rather, the most damaging racism is built into systems and institutions that shape our lives. Most coverage of race and racism is not “systemically aware,” meaning that it either focuses on racism at the level of individuals’ speech or actions, individual-level racism, dismisses systemic racism, or refers to racism in the past tense. See more on the Four Dimensions of Racism in the Appendix, p.36.

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Racist

Describes a person, behavior, or incident that perpetuates racism. Stories of race and racism that focus on personal prejudice (“who’s a racist”) get a disproportionate share of attention in the media. This reinforces the message that racism is primarily a phenomenon of overt, intentional acts carried out by prejudiced individuals who need correcting and/or shaming, and tends to spark debates of limited value about that individual’s character. It is important for media to use a systemic lens on race-related stories to examine systems, institutional practices, policies, and outcomes.

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“Reverse racism”

A concept based on a misunderstanding of what racism is, often used to accuse and attack efforts made to rectify systemic injustices. Every individual can be prejudiced and biased at one time or another about various people and behaviors, but racism is based on power and systematic oppression. Individual prejudice and systemic racism cannot be equated. Even though some people of color hold powerful positions, White people overwhelmingly hold the most systemic power. The concept of “reverse racism” ignores structural racism, which permeates all dimensions of our society, routinely advantaging White people and disadvantaging people of color. It is deeply entrenched and in no danger of being dismantled or “reversed” any time soon.

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Stereotype

Characteristics ascribed to a person or groups of people based on generalization and oversimplification that may result in stigmatization and discrimination. Even so-called positive stereotypes (e.g., Asians as “model minorities”) can be harmful due to their limiting nature.

 

Systemic analysis

A systemic analysis means we are examining the root causes and the mechanisms at play that result in patterns. It involves looking beyond individual speech, acts, and practices to the larger structures — organizations, institutions, traditions, and systems of knowledge.

 

White supremacy

A form of racism centered upon the belief that White people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds and that Whites should politically, economically, and socially dominate nonWhites. While often associated with violence perpetrated by the KKK and other White supremacist groups, it also describes a political ideology and systemic oppression that perpetuates and maintains the social, political, historical and/or industrial White domination.