Anti-Black Racism/Anti-Blackness

The personal, cultural, social, legal, and structural attacks on Black people. This term highlights the unique and disproportionate amount of racism that Black people face. This term is unique because colorism, white supremacy, and structural racism work in tandem to specifically marginalize Black people. Anti-Blackness is not limited to Black people, it impacts all dark-skinned people.

Antisemitism

On May 26, 2016, the 31 member states of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), adopted a non-legally binding “working definition” of antisemitism:

“Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

Learn more about the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition here.

Asian American

Americans who are of Asian ancestry. The term was coined by Yuji Ichioka and Emma Gee in 1968 to create unity across Asian ethnic groups.

Bamboo Ceiling

The barriers and exclusion of Asians and Asian Americans from executive and leadership positions. Asian Americans are the least likely among all races to be promoted to management positions.

Co-conspirator         

Describes someone who supports a group other than one's own (in terms of racial identity, gender, sexual orientation, etc.) Co-conspirators acknowledge disadvantage and oppression of other groups; take risks and supportive action on their behalf; commit to reducing their own complicity or collusion in oppression of those groups, and invest in strengthening their own knowledge and awareness of oppression (Center for Assessment and Policy Development; Racial Equity Tools, 2019).

Colorism

Colorism refers to discrimination based on skin color. Colorism disadvantages dark-skinned people while privileging those with lighter skin. Research has linked colorism to lower incomes, lower marriage rates, longer prison terms, and fewer job prospects for darker-skinned people (Hall, 2014; Hunter, 2007). This stems from racial hierarchies where white skin or whiteness (viewed as superior, intelligent, beautiful, civilized, pure, ideal, normal, etc) is juxtaposed against Black skin or Blackness (viewed as subordinate, incompetent, ugly, deviant, different, other). All communities, including communities of color, are susceptible to colorism.  

Critical Consciousness

The ability to recognize, analyze, and critique systems of inequity, and the commitment to take action against these systems (El Amin, et. al, 2007; Ladson-Billings, 1995)

Dysconscious Racism

Refers to an uncritical habit of mind (including perceptions, attitudes, assumptions, and beliefs) that justifies inequity and exploitation by accepting the existing order of things as a given. Is the unquestioned acceptance of problematic norms and privileges (King & Akua, 2012).  

Equality

Equality is commonly defined as providing the same opportunities for everyone. The problem is that equality does not take into consideration historical and contemporary forms of discrimination, such as racism, which privilege white people at the expense of people of color. We don't all start or exist on a level playing field, so having the same response or resources for everyone is actually not "equal".

Equity

Recognizes historical and contemporary oppression and acknowledges that different communities require different types and levels of support to succeed and survive. To achieve equity, policies and procedures may require unequal distribution of resources to redress disparities and disadvantages and achieve equal outcomes.  

Ethnicity

The social and cultural groups one belongs to on the basis of shared traditions, ancestry, language, history, nation, religion, etc. I.e. Korean American, Hmong are ethnicities and “Asian” is a race.

Immigrant

A person living in a country other than the one of their birth

Implicit Bias

Refers to the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner. They cause us to have feelings and attitudes about other people based on characteristics such as race, ethnicity, age, and appearance. They develop over the course of a lifetime beginning at a very early age through exposure to direct and indirect messages, including through early life experiences, the media, and news programming (Kirwan Institute, 2015).

Individual Racism

Refers to an individuals discriminatory beliefs, assumptions, or behaviors (Henry & Tator, 2006).  Includes examples such as telling a racist joke, committing a hate crime, or using hate speech. Individual racism is connected to broader socioeconomic histories and processes and is supported and reinforced by systemic/structural racism. The U.S. cultural narrative about racism typically focuses on individual racism and fails to notice structural racism. Racism is often seen as a psychological bias that can be cured rather than an embedded structural problem that is indefinite.  

Intersectionality

According to Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw (who coined the term),"Intersectionality is simply a prism to see the interactive effects of various forms of discrimination and disempowerment. It looks at the way that racism, many times, interacts with patriarchy, heterosexism, classism, xenophobia — seeing that the overlapping vulnerabilities created by these systems actually create specific kinds of challenges. “Intersectionality 102,” then, is to say that these distinct problems create challenges for movements that are only organized around these problems as separate and individual. So when racial justice doesn’t have a critique of patriarchy and homophobia, the particular way that racism is experienced and exacerbated by heterosexism, classism etc., falls outside of our political organizing—it means that significant numbers of people in our communities aren’t being served by social justice frames because they don’t address the particular ways that they’re experiencing discrimination."

Invisibility

Being unseen, ignored or overlooked. For example, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders often experience invisibility, including in discussions of race.

Islamophobia

Dislike of or prejudice against Islam or Muslims

Marginalized

Membership in a group or community that experiences discrimination and exclusion and has less power in society

Micro-affirmation

Rowe (2008) coined the term micro-affirmation, and explained that it comprises small gestures extended on a daily basis that foster inclusion, listening, comfort, and support for people who may feel unwelcome or invisible in an environment. For example, because of the common experiences of Black students at Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs), micro-affirmations can be utilized to communicate important messages that students are welcome, visible, and capable of performing well, which lead to a greater sense of belonging, self-efficacy, and resiliency to persist despite the challenges faced (Powell, Demetriou, & Fisher, 2013). Examples of micro-affirmations include: When students tell you they feel they have been targeted because of their identity, you believe them; acknowledging that a microaggression may have occurred; visibly confronting inequitable, hostile, or biased behavior; stopping to ask for someone's opinion or contribution who has not had a chance to speak (in a group setting, during a meeting); a flyer for a dance that includes multiple representations (i.e. same-sex couples, non-coupled people); an advertisement for an event that includes information on disability accommodations (dela Peña, 2017).

Microaggressions

Dr. Chester Pierce coined and defined microaggressions as: "subtle, stunning, often automatic and nonverbal exchanges which are put-downs of Black people." Psychologist Derald Wing Sue (2007) expanded the definition to include “everyday verbal, non-verbal and environmental slights, snubs or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership.” Microaggressions can be seen in jokes, low expectations, insults, assaults and everyday practices of belittlement, exclusion, and invalidation of people of color. Examples include: "You speak good English"; "Where are you really from?"; You are so articulate"; When I look at you, I don't see color"; I'm not racist, I have Black friends"; touching a Black person's hair

Model Minority Myth

The stereotype and false assumption that all Asian Americans are high achieving, good students, successful and well off. First used during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s, it has been used as a way to reinforce anti-Blackness, divide communities of color, and downplay the role of racism.

Pacific Islander

A person or group having origins in Polynesia, Melanesia or Micronesia (i.e. Native Hawaiians, Samoans, Tongans, Guamanians, Fijians)

Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype

A stereotype and perception that Asian Americans are foreign, not able to assimilate, and therefore not truly “American”

Prejudice

A preconceived judgement or opinion, usually based on limited information. 

Race

The categorizing of humans into different groups based on perceived physical differences. There is no biological foundation to "race". Humans share 99.9% of our DNA with each other. Physical differences between individuals and groups of individuals are genetically/scientifically so minute that they are meaningless. Race is significant because of the social meanings attached to perceived physical differences, such as a skin color, hair color, facial characteristics, etc. and the political and economic forces that reinforce these perceptions. Race is an institution. Although race is not biologically grounded or natural, it has very real implications regarding the current and historical marginalization of Black and Brown communities because of institutional racism. Race is not to be confused with ethnicity; your race is determined by how you look, while your ethnicity is determined based on the social and cultural groups you belong to (Fanon, 1952). The fundamental difference is that race is socially imposed, hierarchical, and inequitable (Conely). 

Race Evasiveness

This racial ideology that suggests that the best approach to racism is to disregard racial differences and treat everyone equally, regardless of race (“I don’t see color”). Race evasiveness reinforces a perspective that race is insignificant, does not limit a person's opportunities, and does not matter. It ignores race, racism, and the social, historical, and present effects they have, including the cultural wealth of communities of color (Ansell; Yosso, 2005).  The transition to the term race evasive expands the framework of colorblindness by acknowledging the intentionality in avoiding substantive discussion or acknowledgment of race and it's connection White Supremacy, power and/or privilege and ableist language.

Racial Prejudice

A set of discriminatory or derogatory attitudes based on assumptions deriving from perceptions about race and/or skin color (ACLRC, 2020). People of all races can hold racial prejudices. 

Racism

Racism is a system of advantage based on race (Tatum, 2017). It includes laws, institutions, cultural messages, and policies working in tandem with individual and group level behaviors to reproduce white supremacy and racial inequity (Claire & Dennis, 2015). A simple way of defining racism is prejudice plus power. There are different types of racism, including individual, systemic, institutional, and internalized.

Reverse Racism 

If you understand racism as privilege plus power, and that the two work together to create a system of advantage based on race, then you know that reverse racism is a myth. Dr. Beverly Tatum explains: "In my view, reserving the term racist only for behaviors committed by whites in the context of a white-dominated society is a way of acknowledging the ever present power differential afforded whites by the culture and institutions that make up the system of advantage and continue to reinforce notions of white superiority.” In other words, white people can experience racial prejudice, but not racism. Ricky Sherover-Marcuse adds: "we should not confuse the occasional mistreatment experienced by whites at the hands of people of color with the systematic and institutionalized mistreatment by people of color at the hands of whites." While expressions of racial prejudice directed at white people may hurt the white person/people individually or personally, and are never to be condoned, they do not have the power or authority to affect the white person's social/economic/political location and privileges (ACLRC, 2020). Reverse racism is a myth because it tries to ignore the fundamental question of who holds more power/privilege between the individuals/groups involved; the myth of reverse racism assumes that racism occurs on a so-called level playing field. (ACLRC, 2020)."

Scapegoating

When people place unfair blame on a person or group of people even though it’s not their fault. For example, blaming Chinese people for COVID-19.

Sikh

An adherent of Sikhism, the world’s fifth largest religion

Stereotype

A widely held, oversimplified idea about a type of person or group. Racial stereotypes are harmful, shape interpersonal interactions, impact policy, and can be internalized by people of color. They are based on an inaccurate understanding and generalization that all people with a particular characteristic are the same.

Systemic Racism

A historical and present system in which public policies, institutional practices, cultural representations and other norms work in various, often reinforcing ways to perpetuate racial inequity specifically against Black and Brown communities. Can be seen in discriminatory laws and the exclusion and distortion of the perspectives of people of color in cultural institutions. It is the most profound and pervasive form of racism, and all other forms of racism emerge from structural racism (Lawrence & Keheler, 2018). White supremacy is at the core of systemic racism.   

White Privilege

White privilege refers to the unquestioned and unearned set of advantages, entitlements, benefits, and choices bestowed on people solely because they are white (Racial Equity Tools, 2013; McIntosh, 1989). Generally, white people who experience such privilege do so without being conscious of it. White privilege is not the suggestion that white people have never struggled or had it hard, but that race/skin color is not one of the things making it harder.

White Supremacy

The preferential norms, laws, treatment, privilege, power, access and opportunities that benefit white people at the expense of cumulative and chronic outcomes for Black and Brown communities. It is infused in all aspects of our society which include our laws, history, education system, culture, and entire social fabric.

Xenophobia

Dislike or prejudice against people from other countries

Yellow Peril

A centuries old racist stereotype of East Asians being invaders, disease-carriers and a threat to the US and Western world