Key Terms

This section offers help with unfamiliar terminology that appears in the Roadmap or that you may encounter on your racial equity journey. Using shared definitions of key terms provides clarity and consistency, which leads to better analysis of how institutional racism functions and is maintained This allows us to collectively deconstruct mechanisms that support institutional racism and construct new systems that produce equitable outcomes.

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Affinity Group:

An employee resource group where people get to meet in a space that involves similar racial identities, for example people of color / BIPOC, multi-racial groups, people that identify as white. This should not be the only method for racial equity but is an important space to create when the timing is right.

African Diaspora:

The involuntary mass dispersion of Africans and their descendants to various parts of the world during the transatlantic slave trades.

*Anti-Black:

This is a term to describe the discrimination, violence and harms that are specific to Black people and people of African Diaspora.

*Anti-Black Racism:

term used to specifically describe the unique discrimination, violence and harms imposed on and impacting Black people specifically.

**Anti-Racism:

Antiracism is the identification and elimination of racism by changing oppressive systems, structures, policies, practices and attitudes so that historic and future harm can be eliminated for people of color.

Ableism:

A set of beliefs or practices that devalue and discriminate against people with physical, intellectual, or psychiatric disabilities and often rest on the assumption that disabled people need to be ‘fixed’ in one form or another. (from Center for Disability Rights)

Bias:

To have prejudice against a group of people based on their identity.

BIPOC:

POC is a movement-building term to align the struggles and resiliency of all people of color. However, it doesn’t get at the specific and unique struggles that different communities of color face based on their race. BIPOC stands for Black, Indigenous, and all People of Color. It is a term to make visible the unique and specific experiences of racism and resilience that the Black/African Diaspora and Indigenous communities have faced in the structure of race within the United States. BIPOC is a term that both honors all people of color and creates opportunity to lift up the voices of those communities.

Blood Quantum:

Blood quantum is the amount of Indian blood a person possesses as determined by the number of generations of Native people the person descends from, and it is the process that the federal government uses to determine whether or not they consider the person a Native American. Within the construct of race this system is highly controversial and was set up to deny more Native Americans their treaty rights. It also takes away tribe’s ability to determine membership through other traditions and protocols.

Brave Space/Safe Space:

This is a framework to create a space where folks feel safe to dialogue about race. Unfortunately, no space can ever be promised as fully safe, especially for people of color. Brave space is the concept of honoring the bravery it takes for people of color to talk about race in shared-identity spaces, and asks white folks to be brave to open up and share the labor and learning of dismantling racism.

Cis / Cisgender:

Denoting or relating to a person whose sense of personal identity and gender corresponds with their birth sex.

*Colonialism:

Colonialism is a power relationship in which an external nation state (colonizer, in this case Europe and the U.S.) directly controls the political and economic system of another nation state and/or people. It normally involves the presence of a military force to crush dissent and the migration of people from the colony to the nation state of the colonizer.

Color-Blindness:

Color blindness is the concept that folks don’t see color and treat everyone equally. While the intent might be that no one is discriminated against because of their color or race which is innately good, this is a problematic statement as it dismisses the barriers people of color face as well as their identity.

Cultural Racism:

The ways in which the “norms” of our society’s culture (movies, tv, books, hair products, etc.) are geared to maintain whiteness as supreme.

Decentering Whiteness:

An approach to racial equity that doesn’t prioritize the resourcing, experience and voice of white people, and doesn’t explain people of color only in relation to white people.

*Decolonization:

The active resistance against colonial powers and a shifting of power toward acquisition of our own political, economic, educational, cultural, physical independence and power. This process occurs politically and also applies to personal and societal psychic, cultural, political, agricultural, and educational deconstruction of colonial oppression.

**Discrimination:

The unequal treatment of individuals or groups based on their race, gender, social class, sexual orientation, religion, etc.

**Diversity:

The collection of differences within a group. Diversity includes not only race, ethnicity, and gender, but also age, national origin, religion, (dis)ability, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, education, and language. Diversity also encompasses cultural values, ideas, and perspectives. Diversity is having multiple perspectives, identities, and cultures present in your workplace. While this is a great start, it doesn’t always incorporate the dynamics that will make everyone successful.

Dominant Culture:

The culture that is most visible and normalized for purposes of maintaining superiority. In the US, the culture of whiteness was designed to center white people.

Equality:

Treating everyone the same regardless of identity. (While the intent might be to say, people aren’t discriminated against based on their identity and should get equal treatment, equality also means that people aren’t getting their specific needs met and their racial identity or barriers based on their race may be ignored).

Equity:

Working toward an organizational culture that meets the specific needs of your diverse workforce, customers and products. It is not synonymous with equality. For example, if three people are eating pizza and each person gets one slice, that would be equality. Equity is asking who is the hungriest and dividing the pizza to meet each person’s needs. Equity is using available resources to meet the specific needs of someone based upon their identities.

Gaslighting:

When the victim of oppression is led to question their own reality. In this case, racial gaslighting can be when a person of color expresses their needs or experiences and are being convinced that they are being too sensitive.

Genocide:

The deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic or racial group.

Gender Non-Conforming:

Someone that does not conform to the expected gender norms of society, such as being assigned female at birth but not expressing feminine gender through clothing, mannerisms, speech or other expressions.

Implicit Bias:  

Implicit bias refers to the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner.

Inclusion:

The authentic engagement of underserved or traditionally excluded groups into activities and policy/decision making. Inclusion can also mean creating an environment where all can show up as their authentic selves. It involves ensuring the optimal space and process for diverse people to participate, engage, and want to stay in your workplace.

Internalized Racial Oppression:

The set of negative beliefs that people of color may believe about themselves (whether conscious or unconscious) due to racism.

Internalized Racial Superiority:

The set of beliefs that white people believe about themselves whether unconscious or not that make them feel better than or superior in skills, image, behavior, etc due to white privilege.

Interpersonal Racism:

Racism perpetuated from one person to another.

Intersectionality:

The idea that various biological, social, and cultural categories – including race, gender, class, and ethnicity – compound and overlap with each other to create a truly unique experience for those multiple identities. These experiences can also lead to multiple forms of injustice and oppression.

Institutional Racism:

Racist policies and procedures that play out on an institutional level such as school systems, banks, the media, the government.

LGBTQ2S+:

The acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, Two-Spirit and + referring to many other members of the community.

Marginalized:

Marginalized populations are groups and communities that experience discrimination and exclusion (social, political and economic) because of unequal power relationships across economic, political, social and cultural dimensions. Source: National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health

**Microaggression:

A comment or action that subtly expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group, including people of color, whether intentional or not.

MWESB:

Minority, women, and emerging small business.

Oppression:

The systematic subjugation of one social group by a more powerful social group for the social, economic, and political benefit of the more powerful social group. Rita Hardiman and Bailey Jackson state that oppression exists when the following four conditions are found:

The oppressor group has the power to define reality for themselves and others.
The target groups take in and internalize the negative messages about them and end up cooperating with the oppressors (thinking and acting like them).
Genocide, harassment, and discrimination are systematic and institutionalized, so that individuals are not necessary to keep it going.
Members of both the oppressor and target groups are socialized to play their roles as normal and correct.

People of Color:

A person, or people, who experience systemic forms of oppression or discrimination based on their race and/or ethnic heritage and do not identify as white. The term includes people that may identify with terms such as Indigenous, Black, African American, Latino/e, Native American, Asian, Asian American, Pacific Islander and many, many more identities that make our POC communities diverse.

Prejudice:

An attitude based on limited information, often on stereotypes. No one is free of prejudice.

Racial Equity:

Adjusting the organizational approach to specifically address the needs of communities of color. Note that it’s different from equality which means using the same approach for everyone.

Racial Equity Lens:

A tool used by groups to ask additional questions in a decision making procedure. These additional questions are aimed at examining potential unnoticed harms to communities of color or opportunities that may be present for increased racial justice.

Race:

Refers to socially constructed categories of physical body, ethnicity, and origin designed to perpetuate power for one group over another. Today race has significant cultural meanings and affects our experiences and opportunities.

Racism:

Racism is a system that routinely advantages whites and disadvantages people of color. Where there are racial inequities, there is racism.

*Reparations:

The making of amends for a wrong that has been done – whether by individuals, corporations, government or other major institutions – by paying money, control of land, housing, jobs, health care, transportation and even finance and trade. — Agenda to Build Black Futures and UN Working Group of Experts: Mississippi Mission, US South Human Rights Abuses, Workers Rights and Economic Justice Testimony

*Restorative Justice:

Restorative Justice is a theory of justice that emphasizes repairing the harm caused by crime and conflict. It places decisions in the hands of those who have been most affected by a wrongdoing, and gives equal concern to the victim, the offender, and the surrounding community. Restorative responses are meant to repair harm, heal broken relationships, and address the underlying reasons for the offense. It emphasizes individual and collective accountability. Crime and conflict generate opportunities to build community and increase grassroots power when restorative practices are employed. Learn more about the background behind restorative justice practices here.

Strength-based language:

A framework that describes people from a standpoint of resiliency and centers the voices and experiences of people of color. Resilient communities vs. Underserved/Underrepresented. Never using deficit-based language to describe community members.

Systemic Racism:

The compounding ways in which racism plays out individually, interpersonally, culturally, and institutionally to create barriers for people of color in all aspects of modern-day USA.

Targeted Universalism:

An analysis that alters the usual approach of universal strategies (policies that make no distinctions among people’s status, such as universal health care) to achieve universal goals (improved health), and instead suggests we use targeted strategies to reach universal goals. For example, this could look like “how do we make our workplace more inviting, especially to BIPOC?”, or even further “especially for BIPOC with disabilities?”

Transgender:

Denoting or relating to a person whose sense of personal identity and gender does not correspond with their birth sex.

Trauma-informed approach:

A framework that is grounded in understanding the psychological, physical, spiritual and mental stresses that come with experiencing racism, genocide, and slavery.

Undocumented:

A person residing in a country who doesn’t possess the legal documentation to reside there.

White Supremacy Culture:

A term to denote the ways in which certain behaviors or values are deemed more valuable and are associated with white people. This can look like weaponizing things like “worship of the written word” or “quantity over quality” against BIPOC in the workplace.

White Fragility:

Discomfort and defensiveness on the part of a white person when confronted by information about racial inequality and injustice.

White Privilege:

Unearned advantages possessed by a white person on the basis of their race in a society that lifts up and prioritizes the experience of white people through white supremacy.

White Supremacy:

The belief that the those who identify as white are inherently superior to other races, including the social, economic, and political systems that collectively enable white people to exploit, oppress, and maintain power over people of other races. (Source: UMICH LSA) White supremacy culture in the workplace can include over-valuing characteristics that are associated with white people, such as worship of the written word or quantity over quality and can be weaponized against BIPOC in the workplace.