Glossary of Terms

AAVE - this acronym stands for African American Vernacular English. The notion that AAVE is improper English is racist, because it assumes that Black people should adhere to the linguistic rules of their oppressor and that they are not allowed to have a language of their own. 

Ableism - discrimination against people with disabilities, which includes both mental and physical disabilities. 

Accountability - being held responsible and willingness to accept responsibility for one’s actions. In terms of this space, the ability to be vulnerable without being fragile. To be productive and self-reflective in anti-racist work. Accountability means de-centering whiteness and responding to criticism receptively and not defensively. It means being transparent about your mistakes, and separating the societal from the personal to work on problematic aspects of one’s anti-racism. It means being aware of how much space one is taking up in spaces with BIPOC activists, and making sure marginalized people feel safe.

Ally versus Accomplice - An ally is someone who is anti-racist and can address racism and correct others who perpetuate racism but still has room to grow and self-reflection to undergo in order to shed the societal conditioning of white supremacy. An accomplice is an activist who is accountable to BIPOC activists (see also: accountability) and utilizes their white privilege to support and protect BIPOC activists, sometimes when it means putting themselves at risk. 

Anti-racism - the social, political, ideological, and economical orientation to adopt and develop policies that oppose racism. 

Appropriation/Cultural Appropriation - The act of white people emulating art, style, and traditions of BIPOC cultures without respect for the culture from which it is derived. Oftentimes appropriation comes with capital gain or recognition over the BIPOCs whites have emulated. (Example: Elvis Presley being cited as the king of rock and roll despite having appropriated the sound of black musicians who came before him.)

Assimilation: the practice of absorbing and taking on the ideas, information, and behaviors. In term of race, this is when a person or population (often an immigrant population) gives up their culture and/or language to adopt the dominant culture and/or language. 

Autonomy - the ability and freedom to make decisions for one’s self without external influence and in light of one’s values. In this space, autonomy is often applied in medical and political contexts. Bodily autonomy is the idea that people are in control of their own bodies. People with less privilege often find their autonomy constrained, such as women who are groped by men or black people who have white people touch their hair without their consent. In our white supremacist culture, there is a lingering objectification of black people (especially black women) which makes white people feel entitled to touch them. 

3. BIPOC - Short for Black Indigenous People Of Color, it’s similar to POC but with an emphasis on the unique oppression faced by black and indigenous people in the United States. 

Bird-Dogging - A direct action tactic which consists of confronting a political figure to ask them an abrupt question about policy while an accomplice records them in the interest of holding them accountable to their response (or lack thereof). The idea is to put them on the spot thereby forcing them to reveal their true intentions rather than delivering a prepared, carefully worded response. 

Body Shaming - the social or self practice of negative criticism about others’ or one’s own body shape and/or size.  

Carceral Feminism - A form of feminism invokes the use of the criminal justice system to protect women from male violence and punish perpetrator of violence. However, this perspective often reinforces the stigma placed on sex workers and places faith within a corrupt criminal justice system. 

Cis-gender- a person whose gender identity corresponds to the gender assigned to them at birth.

Cognitive Labor - the cognitive effort required to process and respond within interactions. In terms of race, the division of cognitive labor disproportionately falls onto people of color. People of color must navigate and respond within or outside of organizational and societal norms, which are built on tenets of white supremacy. 

Colorism - discrimination against darker-skinned individuals, which is exhibited in both whites and by lighter-skinned people of color. Colorism is an aspect of white supremacy in which lighter-skinned people are treated better due to their proximity to whiteness.   

Dog-Whistle: Coded language that conjures negative stereotypes of black people and other people of color, while using race-neutral language to permit denial of being racist. Dog-whistling is a tactic used often by both Republicans and Democrats to win over the support of racist white people without sounding the alarms of overt racism. (Examples: Presidents Reagan and Clinton are known for using race-neutral terms that white racists knew referred to Black people in order to further expand the war on drugs and the appallingly racist and corrupt system of mass incarceration. An example that is still common today is the use of the word “thug” in place of overt racial slurs.)

Emotional Labor - the process of dealing with feelings and performances of feelings within interactions. This labor disproportionately falls on people of color that must survive within everyday interactions defined by the dominant white culture. One aspect, often overlooked by cis white people, is the emotional toll of having to “educate” racists when often that education boils down to defending one’s own humanity to someone who sees them as less. White people often expect people of color to bear the emotional labor to educate them, which is a by-product of white supremacy. Someone who is excessively expected to expense emotional labor is referred to as an emotional mule. 

Entitlement - the belief and feelings that one deserves privileges given to them. This often is viewed as a right or inherent to the person. 

Racial fetishization - an excessive fondness to a person or culture belonging to a racial group that one does not belong to, which leads to the reinforcement of stereotypes and objectification of racial groups and culture. 

Gender Non-conforming/Gender Diverse - one who does not conform to the cultural and societal expectations of gender (i.e. behaviors, interests, expression, presentation, etc.), based on the gender binary. 

Gentrification - the process of affluent residents entering more deteriorated neighborhoods and renovating houses and businesses to meet middle-class standards. This process has disproportionate negative impact on Black and Brown communities, because it is generally affluent white residents that move into neighbors that raise property values and forces the removal of Black and Brown residents that can no longer afford to live in those areas. 

Hetero-Sexism/Queer-Antagonism - Umbrella terms referring to homophobia, transphobia, and all bigotry directed at people who do not conform to conventional, heterosexual gender standards. 

Identity politics - the formation of political positions in relation to interests, ideology, and viewpoints of social groups that one identifies with (i.e. race, gender, sexuality, social class, etc.). 

Intersectionality - The understanding that for people simultaneously fall into multiple oppressed (i.e. black/queer/Muslim/woman) and/or advantaged (i.e. white/male/middle-class/heterosexual) groups. Examples include racism in the white gay community or queer-antagonistic people of the Muslim faith (see also: “White Feminism”). To be intersectional means to oppose all forms of oppression, not to oppose some and perpetuate others. 

Intersex - this describes a variety of conditions in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that does not appear to fit the “typical” or societal definitions of female or male. 

Latinx - A gender-non-specific term referring to people of Latin heritage.

LGBTQ+ - this acronym stands for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and others. This acronym is generally used to refer to a population of people that differ from the heterosexual and cisgender majority.  

Mass Incarceration - this expression is used to illustrate the significant increase in the number of incarcerated people in United States’ prisons that started in the 1960s and 1970s. Mass incarceration has inordinately placed Black men in prison. In more recent years, Latino men as well as Black and Latino women are disproportionately being sent to prisons. 

Melanin - The factor that determines one’s pigment. Darker-skinned people have more melanin. Melanin has become a pop-culture term used by POC to express….

Microaggression- everyday phrases and interactions that discredit, degrade, or derogate a person based on their social group. Microaggression reinforce stereotypes and place undue cognitive and emotional labor on marginalized people that must respond to them. Examples: “you’re not like the rest of them,” “Where are you really from?,” a store clerk following certain children in a store, etc. 

Misogynoir - Sexist hostility that is specifically directed at black women. The term refers to the layers of oppression faced by black women, often by black men who will use their male privilege to throw black women under the bus in order to gain favor in a white supremacist culture (see also: intersectionality). 

Misogyny - hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women or girls.

Non-Monogamy(non-monog): is a type of relationship in which sexual and/or emotional exclusivity with one’s partner is not practiced.

Patriarchy - a system predicated on privileging men and masculinity as superior than women, non-binary people, and femininity. The system of patriarchy influences and intersects with other systems (i.e. class, white supremacy, and heteronormativity) and plays out in all facets of life. 

POC - an acronym for People Of Color, it’s an umbrella term to refer to non-white people. 

Polyamory: A variation of non-monogamy wherein people have multiple relationships with multiple partners. 

Post-Racism or Colorblind racism - Colorblind racism is the concept that racial inequalities are explained or justified without acknowledging racism. The myth that racism is mostly over and that systemic racism is no longer a problem in the United States or around the globe. Post-racism assumes that racism presently exists on the fringe, and that white supremacy is the exception and not the default. People who subscribe to the myth of post-racism will often deny the influence of white supremacy on the grounds that the United States has had a black president. They believe that racism ended with the civil rights movement, and they’ll practice subtle racism with race-neutral terminology (see also: dog-whistle).  

Positionality - knowledge development, feelings, and practices cultivated by one’s position in society in relation to others. In terms of white individuals, whites develop racial knowledge, feelings, and practices in relation to their position as being white in a racialized society. 

Privilege - advantages or favored treatment granted or given access to for certain groups of people. 

Queer - originally a pejorative, this word has been reclaimed by LGBTQ+ community as an umbrella for sexual and gender minorities. Queer has become increasingly viewed as a political identity (see identity politics). 

Racial Integration - the act or process of desegregation. The goal is to incorporate racially marginalized groups into society without the assumption of those groups simply assimilating to the dominant white culture. 

Reproductive Justice - this is a framework used to champion the rights of Native women, Black women, and women of color, by connecting reproductive rights with social justice. 

School to Prison Pipeline - The cycle of failing schools and lack of opportunity in low income black neighborhoods which results in a large proportion of black people ending up in the for-profit prison system. What many do not understand is that this cycle did not arrive by circumstance but by a very complex and insidious plan to profit from black bodies that began with slavery and has evolved over time into what is now mass incarceration. 

Spoon Theory - The concept that some people exert more energy to complete tasks that may seem mundane or effortless to others. This may be due to illness or disability. In this explanation, spoons are used as a hypothetical unit of measurement for energy. If a spoon is discarded each time an energy-draining task is completed, people who experience more stress over everyday activities are going to have fewer spoons remaining at the end of the day. 

TERF (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminism) - An antagonistic, anti-trans branch of feminism whose narrow definition of ‘woman’ excludes anyone who wasn’t born with female genitalia. It takes the right-wing approach of describing trans women as if they are male imposters, despite the fact that trans women are affected far worse than cis women by many of the systems of oppression that feminism aims to eliminate. 

Tokenism - is the symbolic effort, rather than an actual effort, to include marginalized groups by giving access to a limited number of individuals that functions as the appearance of integration and inclusion. Example: hiring a couple Black and Brown folks and claiming diversity, despite the underrepresentation of Black and Brown folks in company persisting. 

Tone Policing - An argumentative tactic where one derails a conversation by critiquing the tone of the other person in the argument rather than offering a counterpoint. The point is to condescend someone for being emotional about a subject when in reality it is perfectly normal and acceptable to be emotional when arguing about social issues. Sometimes tone-policing is disguised as a backhanded compliment. (Example: “You’re really smart and you might be really effective if you could control your emotions.”)

Toxic Masculinity - The result of strict constraints placed on masculinity in our society. Men are told they must be conventionally masculine, and masculinity is often equated with violent and misogynistic behavior. Behaviors such as crying when sad or platonic man-to-man physical affection are considered feminine, but behaviors such as demeaning women or being generally violent are considered masculine. As a result, many men are conditioned to express emotions in unhealthy ways. This, combined with a level of male privilege which makes men feel entitled to sex and/or affection from women, can in extreme cases cause violent and irrational outbursts. (Example: Elliot Roger cited the fact that women would not sleep with him as his reason for murdering a bunch of women in Isla Vista in 2014. He maintained the belief that he was the hero in the scenario and that the women deserved to die because they were representative of all the women who never realized what a nice guy he was and never gave him a chance.) Toxic masculinity is the ability to still view one’s self as a nice guy while having the capacity to murder innocent people. 

Transgender - When a person’s gender identity does not correspond to their assigned gender at birth. 

Triggers - Subject matter that may cause someone great emotional distress due to its relevance to a past trauma. Trigger warnings are often used to give someone a warning that what they are about to read or watch may disturb them. A trigger is NOT simply something that one finds offensive, as it is often misconstrued by internet trolls who habitually antagonize social justice advocates. 

White Feminism - Feminism that is exclusive to white women, which throws black people under the bus for the benefit of white people 

White Fragility - “White Fragility is a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress be- comes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves. These moves include the outward display of emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and behaviors such as argumentation, silence, and leaving the stress-inducing situation.” It’s basically a series of things you do unconsciously to get back to a position of comfort when you’re challenged. Like up there when I said white people are racist. Today in a group I’m in, enough white women reported a Latina’s post to Facebook for making them uncomfortable that Facebook deleted it. 48 solid hours of people’s emotional labor and education, gone, because they were uncomfortable. That’s fragility in action. It says that the only thing worse than doing racist things is being called a racist. For a more nuanced look at fragility, read this.

White Racism - is used to highlight the socio-historical processes that have created race-based practices that systematically provide both material and cultural advantages to whites as the dominant social group. 

White Savior - A very common trope that is popular for affording so-called well-meaning white people the ability to feel good about themselves by portraying them as the hero who rescues black people from their suffering. (Example: the film The Blindside.) White savior stories are racist because they portray black people in a dehumanizing manner as helpless and in need of salvation instead of as competent human beings with thoughts and emotions beyond gratitude to their white saviors. These stories play on a fantasy that white people have of being the “exceptional” white person who helps black people but in a context where black people remain subordinate. White savior stories center whiteness and the black person in the narrative is ultimately a prop to hold up the heroism of the white lead. In that regard, it is very similar to the damsel in distress trope, except the motivating factor in this case is absolvement of white guilt instead of the prospect of a relationship or sex. 

Whitesplaining/Mansplaining - When someone matter-of-factly explains something to someone of lesser privilege with the assumption that they are less knowledgeable about the subject, especially when that subject specifically pertains to their identity. (Example: Tyler confidently explains to Marcia that women are NOT disproportionately affected by street harassment).

White supremacy -  social systems (i.e. political, economic, cultural, and social) that disproportionately allocate power and control over resources to Whites. From these practices, an ideology of white supremacy rises to justify racial inequalities and, whether conscious or unconscious, reproduces in institutions and everyday interactions. White supremacists may not overtly hate black people, but believe themselves superior. 

White tears - is used to refer to when white individuals claim racial injustice or allege race-based victimhood for whites as a group or individuals. 

Whitewashing - Revising historical events and/or people in order to make white people out to look more benevolent than they actually are/were. Whitewashing usually serves an agenda of promoting White supremacy, nationalism, or American exceptionalism. (Example: American history in public education notoriously whitewashes the interactions between the colonists and Indigenous people in order to make early Americans seem more virtuous and less barbaric.)

Whiteness - an ideology, which emerges from social practices, that instills social status (e.g., racial superiority, racial esteem, etc) to those who are deemed as “white.” 

WOC - Short for Women Of Color, it’s similar to POC except it refers specifically to non-white women. 

Womanism - An intersectional approach in response to white feminism and rooted in the experiences of black women. Womanism focuses specifically on the experiences of race and gender. 

Xenophobia - An irrational hatred or fear of people from other countries.