Glossary of Terms in Our Words
**We take full responsibility for how we defined and discussed these terms. We tried to keep them simple and short. If you have questions about them, if you see something that doesn’t seem right, if you want other terms defined like these are, let Joan know at broadfieldje@gmail.com.
Allyship / Advocacy / Accompaniment – ways whites can support BIPOC; the latter two are used most often currently as they imply a more direct action.
BIPOC– Black, Indigenous, and People of Color; the latest term to refer to all racial and ethnic minority groups; replaces POC (People of Color) as this was pretty darn close to “colored”, a negative term used during Jim Crow, and some whites mistakenly began using Colored again thinking it was the same thing. One other thing about BIPOC – some do not approve and when you are talking about one particular group instead of all, you should still use the term for that group. And remember, it’s always a good idea to ask a particular person how they wish to be referred to.
BLM – stands for Black Lives Matter, both a particular group and a rallying cry of a movement to improve the lives of Blacks. While a large part of its focus is on policing, that is not the only institution in which change needs to occur. An opposition has been built up around the comeback phrase “All Lives Matter.” The answer to that is that when Black Lives, Indigenous Lives, and so on matter then indeed all lives will matter, but until then only white lives matter. As a note, Black is capitalized and white is not; that’s not a typo.
Calling Out vs. Calling In – both are ways to tell someone their words or actions are racist; while calling out focuses on letting the other person know they have been racist, calling in stresses starting dialogue for increased awareness. This is not to say that calling out is a bad thing and sometimes deemed necessary in the moment.
Colorblindness – the idea advocated a while back that “not seeing race” was a way to show you were not racist. It has since been discredited as it carries with it the false assumption that race should be ignored instead of seen and embraced as a vital part of a person’s identity.
Equality vs. Equity – give everyone the same thing vs. give everyone what they need.
Hidden or Implicit Bias – negative stereotypes held that are often unconscious, but come out in sneaky ways nevertheless.
History of Race – while some still believe race is something biological, it is in fact socially constructed and with historical analysis it can be seen when the idea of race came into being, as well as its purpose (hint…not a good one).
Individual Racism vs. Systemic/Structural/Institutional Racism – the former looks at a person’s prejudice, bias, and discrimination, whereas the latter sees a bigger picture that individual racism is not necessary for racism to be reproduced in a society, as it’s found built into the institutions that make up a society.
Intersectionality – people are not one-dimensional; we all have many social identities. These identities determine how our lives are lived. These varying identities determine the amount of discrimination and bias, as well as the amount of advantage or disadvantage one faces.
“Micro”aggressions – while some argue there’s nothing micro about them because they build up over time, they are seemingly little ways racism sneaks into daily life through words and actions
Non-racist vs. Antiracist – a distinction made popular by Ibrahm X. Kendi that there is no such thing as a non-racist because if you’re not actively working against racism (i.e. antiracist) then you are racist.
Silence = Complicity – the idea that if you don’t speak out against racism whenever you see or hear it, you are upholding the racist system we live in
White Privilege – term coined by Peggy McIntosh to describe ways whites have unearned automatic advantages over other races regardless of where they fall on other social identities such as class or how much they work on their antiracist backbone because these privileges are granted automatically by others in the society.
White Fragility – term coined by Robin DeAngelo to describe the discomfort whites have when confronted with accusations of racism or even when simply discussing racism. It’s been around for a long time, even if the term itself hasn’t.
White Superiority – the belief that whites are inherently better than other races.
White Supremacy – not just your local KKK member like you used to think, but rather a system built up to reproduce prejudice and discrimination. With its belief that whites are superior, it acts as the basis for systemic racism.
