Glossary of Terms

 
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General Terms

AAPI: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

Ally Cookies: Praise or other rewards for “not being racist.” Usually sought out by people with white privilege performing optical allyship (Saad, 2020)

Anti-Blackness: Defined by Merriam-Webster as being opposed to or hostile toward Black people. Anti-Blackness or anti-Black racism can be found all around the world (Saad, 2020).

BIPOC: Black, Indigenous, and People of Color

BIWOC: Black, Indigenous, and Women of Color

Bias: Show prejudice for or against (someone or something) unfairly. Prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group (unfair).

Blackface: Wearing dark makeup to caricature a Black person. Its origins can be found in American minstrel shows of the nineteenth century where white actors work dark face paint to depict racist caricatures of enslaved and free Black people on stage (Saad, 2020).

Blackfishing: The use of artificial tanning and makeup by people with White privilege to make their skin look darker and give the impression that they are of African descent. A modern form of blackface (Saad, 2020).

Colorism: A term coined by author Alice Walker in her book, in Search of our Mothers’ Gardens. Walker defined colorism as the “prejudicial or preferential treatment of same-race people based solely on their color.” Colorism is where prejudicial treatment is given to darker-skinned Black people and People of Color and preferential treatment is given to lighter-skinned Black people and People of Color (Saad, 2020).

Cultural Appropriation: A modern type of colorization that involves the appropriation and sometimes commercialization of cultural practices, spiritual traditions, hair and dress fashion styles, speaking styles, and other cultural elements. Cultural appropriation happens when there is an imbalance of power and privilege—a dominant or privileged culture appropriates from a nondominant or marginalized culture. Cultural appropriation does not work the other way around. BIPOC cannot appropriate from white people, because BIPOC do not hold collective power and privilege over White people (Saad, 2020).

Digital Blackface: In the digital world, the use of emojis, GIFs, and memes featuring Black people by people who hold White privilege (Saad, 2020).

Discrimination: The unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex. Recognition and understanding of the difference between one thing and another.

Ethnicity:  the fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition. (example- African American, Italian American, Native American/Indigenous American)

Intersectionality: A term coined by law professor and civil rights advocate Dr. Kiberlé Crenshaw. It is a framework that helps us to explore the dynamic between coexisting identities and connected systems of oppression, particularly as it relates to gender and race and the experiences of Black women.

Optical Allyship: The visual illusion of allyship without the actual work of allyship. Also known as performative allyship or ally theatre (Saad, 2020).

Prejudice: The act of holding unreasonable, preconceived judgements or convictions. Intolerance of or dislike for people of a specific race, religion, gender, etc. 

Race: A social construct that was created to classify individuals by the color of their skin (example- Black, White, Red)

Racial Oppression: Burdening a specific race with unjust or cruel restraints or impositions. Racial oppression may be social, systematic, institutionalized, or internalized.

Racism: A broad construct that links such individual beliefs and behavior to broader social and institutional norms and practices that systematically disadvantage particular groups. An important difference between prejudice and racism relates to the role of power. Racism is the ability of dominant groups to systematically exercise power over out groups.

Stereotypes: A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.

Tone Policing: A tactic used by those who have White privilege to silence those who do not by focusing on the tone of what is being said rather than the actual content. Tone policing does not only have to be spoken out loud publicly. People with white privilege often tone police BIPOC in their thoughts or behind closed doors (Saad, 2020).

Voluntourism: The trend and business of volunteer tourism, where people with privilege from Western countries travel to do charity volunteer work in countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Voluntourism has been criticized for perpetuating White saviorism (Saad, 2020).

White Apathy: A feeling of apathy, indifference, unconcern, detachment, dispassion, and disregard about racism by people with White privilege (Saad, 2020).

White Centering: The centering of Whiteness and White people, White values, White norms, and white feeling over everything and everyone else. The belief, whether conscious or not, that whiteness is “normal” and BIPOC are “other.” (Saad, 2020)

White Exceptionalism: The belief that people with White privilege are exempt from White supremacy. The belief of being “one of the good ones.” (Saad, 2020)

White Feminism: A feminism that focuses on the struggle of White women. It is feminism that is only concerned with disparities and oppression of gender (usually cisgender) but does not take into account disparities and oppression of other intersections that are just as important, including race, class, age, ability, sexual orientation, gender identity, etc.(Saad, 2020)

White Fragility: A phrase coined by author Robin DiAngelo, defined as, “A state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves.”

White Gaze: The White supremacist lens through which people with White privilege see BIPOC. The White gaze also describes how BIPOC are defined, limited, stereotyped, and judged in the White imagination, usually to the detriment of BIPOC (Saad, 2020).

White Privilege: A phrase coined by Peggy McIntosh defined as follows: “I have come to see White privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was ‘meant’ to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, assurances, tools, maps, guides, codebooks, passports, visas, clothes, compass, emergency gear, and blank checks.”

White Saviorism: A colonialist idea that assumes that BIPOC need White people to save them, that without White intervention, instruction, and guidance, BIPOC will be left helpless, and that without Whiteness, BIPOC, who are seen and treated as inferior to people with white privilege, will not survive (Saad, 2020).

White Silence: Occurs when people with White privilege stay complicity silent when it comes to issues of race (Saad, 2020).

White Superiority: The erroneous, violent, and racist idea that people with White or White-passing skin are superior to and therefore deserve to dominate over people with Brown or Black skin.

Types of Racism

Active Racism: Is walking with the moving sidewalk (Tatum, 1997). 

Antiracist: Is going against the grain, walking against or in the opposite direction of the moving sidewalk (Tatum, 1997). One who is supporting an antiracist policy through their actions or expressing an antiracist idea (Kendi, 2019). 

Colluding: Is standing by or remaining silent when others commit a racist act, make a racist statement, or create a racist policy (intentional or unintentional).

Covert Racism: Form of racial discrimination that is disguised and subtle, rather than public or obvious. Concealed in the fabric of society, covert racism discriminates against individuals through often evasive or seemingly passive method.

Intentional Racism: Is racism that the person is aware of, in that moment, such as refusing to allow their children to date or play with someone, of color.

Microagressions (Sue, 2007)

Microaggressions: Microassaults:

  • blatant, old fashioned racism

  • Explicit racial slight primarily characterized by verbal or nonverbal attack meant to hurt intended victim

  • Usually through name-calling, avoidant behavior, or purposeful discriminatory acts

Microagression: Microinsults:

  • Communications that convey rudeness, insensitivity, and demean a person’s racial heritage/identity

  • Subtle snub often unknown to perpetrator, usually convey hidden insulting message to Person of Color

Microaggression: Microinvalidations:

  • Communications that exclude, negate, or nullify the thoughts, feelings, or reality of a Person of Color. Colorblindess and Dysconscious Racism are microinvalidations.

    Colorblindness:
    Attempt to minimize or distort existence of racism, insistence that race does not matter or should not be talked about (e.g., ‘we’re all the same’), hence, racism is taboo (usually used by persons in an attempt to be perceived as unbiased). Denial that racism benefits Whites.
    Dysconscious Racism:

    • “…a form of racism that tacitly accepts dominant White norms and privileges. It is not the absence of consciousness, but an impaired consciousness or distorted way of thinking about race as compared to…critical consciousness” (King, 1991, 135).

    • Reflected in a persons’ acceptance, approval, and support of the status quo (e.g., desire to keep things way they are)

    • Results in blaming of the victim (e.g., ‘they’re just lazy’ or ‘it’s just in their culture’)

    • Denial of Whites’ roles in maintaining individual and systemic racism

    • Denies present-day racism, sees racism as a relic of past slavery days and blames current inequities on past abuses

Non-racist/Not racist: One who states they are non or not racist

Overt Racism: Intentional and/or obvious harmful attitudes or behaviors towards another minority individual or group because of the color of his/her skin.

Passive Racism: Is standing on a moving sidewalk and letting it carry you (Tatum, 1997).

Racist: One who is supporting a racist policy through their actions or inaction or expressing a racist idea (Kendi, 2019).

Systemic/institutional racism: Can be related to supporting persons or policies/laws within a broader organization (for instance, supporting the use of a racist test for college admissions, Supporting naming the new building on campus after a White man; supporting/participating in a punishment system where Black students are punished more harshly than Whites for the same behaviors; participating in hiring practices in a work place that results in favoring Whites with Anglo names; voting for, or supporting the appointment of, any persons who implement or uphold any of the above policies and practices)

Unintentional Racism: Is racism similar to microinsults and microassults