Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Terminology & Resources

IMPORTANT

DIVERSITY, EQUITY

INCLUSION TERMS

Institutional racism refers specifically to the ways in which institutional policies and practices

create different outcomes for different racial groups but always benefitting the dominant group.

The institutional policies may never mention any racial group, but their effect is to create

advantages for Whites and oppression and disadvantage for people from groups classified as

people of color: for example, city sanitation department policies that concentrate trash transfer

stations and other environmental hazards disproportionately in communities of color.

Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC)

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Institutional Racism

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Structural Racism

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Prejudice

A judgment or belief that is formed on insufficient grounds before facts are known or in disregard of facts that contradict it. Prejudices are learned and can be unlearned.

Discrimination

The unequal allocation of goods, resources, and services, and the limitation of access to full participation in society based on individual membership in a particular social group; reinforced by law, policy, and cultural norms that allow for differential treatment on the basis of identity.

Oppression

When an agent group, whether knowingly or unknowingly, abuses a target group. This pervasive system is rooted historically and maintained through individual and institutional/systematic discrimination, personal bias, bigotry, and social prejudice, resulting in a condition of privilege for the agent group at the expense of the target group.

Privilege

Unearned access to resources (social power) that are only readily available to some people because of their social group membership; an advantage, or immunity granted to or enjoyed by one societal group above and beyond the common advantage of all other groups. Privilege is often invisible to those who have it.

Collusion

Ways that members of agent and target groups think and act, often unconsciously, that support oppressive systems and maintains the status quo.

Ally

Someone who makes the commitment and effort to recognize their privilege (based on

gender, class, race, sexual identity, etc.) and work in solidarity with oppressed groups in the

struggle for justice. Allies understand that it is in their own interest to end all forms of

oppression, even those from which they may benefit in concrete ways

Assimilation

The process by which one group takes on the cultural and other traits of a larger

group; usually refers to the forced acculturation of a marginalized group by the dominant or

White group.

Bias

Prejudice: an inclination or preference, especially one that interferes with impartial judgment.

Bi‐racial

A person who identifies as being of two races or who’s biological parents are of two different

racial groups.

Colonialism/colonizing

The invasion, dispossession and subjugation of a people that results in long-term institutionalized

inequality in which the colonizer benefits at the expense of the colonized.

Color Blind

The belief that everyone should be treated “equally” without respect to societal, economic,

historical, racial or other difference. No differences are seen or acknowledged; everyone is the

same.

Critical Race Theory

Refers to a critical analysis of race and racism that examines the intersection of race, law, and

power. Critical race theory questions the very foundations of the liberal order, including equality

theory, legal reasoning, Enlightenment rationalism and principles of constitutional law.

Cultural Appropriation

Theft of cultural elements for one’s own use, commodification, or profit — including symbols,

art, language, customs, etc. — often without understanding, acknowledgement, or respect for its

value in the original culture. Results from the assumption of a dominant culture’s right to take

other cultural elements.

Cultural Racism

Cultural racism refers to representations, messages and stories conveying the idea that behaviors

and values associated with the dominant societal group, generally identified as White, are

automatically “better” or more “normal” than those associated with subordinate groups,

generally other racially defined groups. It is a powerful force in maintaining systems of

internalized supremacy and internalized racism by influencing collective beliefs about what

constitutes appropriate and valued behavior, status, expression, or lifestyle. All of these cultural

norms and values in the U.S. have explicitly or implicitly racialized ideals and assumptions.

Culture

A social system of meaning and custom that is developed by a group of people to assure its

adaptation and survival. These groups are distinguished by a set of unspoken rules that shape

values, beliefs, habits, patterns of thinking, behaviors and styles of communication.

Diaspora

The dispersion of a group of people who live outside their homeland due to an historical event

that caused them to flee or which forcibly removed them from their homelands into new regions:

such as, Africans as a result of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Discrimination

Actions stemming from conscious or unconscious prejudice, which favor and empower one

group over others based on differences of race, gender, economic class, sexual orientation,

physical ability, religion, language, age, national identity, religion and other categories.

Diversity

Diversity refers to all the ways in which people differ, and it encompasses all the

different characteristics that make one individual or group different from another. It is allinclusive and recognizes everyone and every group as part of the diversity that should be valued.

A broad definition includes not only race, ethnicity, and gender — the groups that most often come to mind when the term "diversity" is used, but also age, national origin, religion, disability,

sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, education, marital status, language, and physical

appearance.

Dominant culture

The cultural values, beliefs, practices, language and traditions that are assumed to be the most

common, accepted, and influential within a given society.

Ethnicity

A socially constructed grouping of people who share a common cultural heritage derived from

values, behavioral patterns, language, political and economic interests, history, geographical

base, and ancestry. Examples include: Cape Verdean, Haitian, African American (Black);

Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese (Asian); Cherokee, Mohawk, Navajo (Native American); Cuban,

Mexican, Puerto Rican (Latino); Polish, Irish, and Swedish (White European)

First Nations People

Tribal people who identify as those who were the first people to live on the Western Hemisphere

continent; also identified as Native Americans.

Hate crime

Law or legislation that designates a crime as being motivated by hate for the actual or perceived

race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, or sexual orientation of any

person and assigns a greater penalty for conviction of such a crime.

Implicit Bias

Negative associations expressed automatically that people unknowingly hold; also known as

unconscious or hidden bias. Many studies have indicated that implicit biases affect individuals’

attitudes and actions, thus creating real-world implications, even though individuals may not

even be aware that those biases exist within themselves. Notably, implicit biases have been

shown to trump individuals’ stated commitments to equality and fairness, thereby producing

behavior that diverges from the explicit attitudes that people may profess. The Implicit

Association Test (IAT) is often used to measure implicit biases with regard to race, gender,

sexual orientation, age, religion, and other topics.

In‐group Bias (favoritism)

The tendency for groups to “favor” themselves by rewarding group members economically,

socially, psychologically, and emotionally in order to uplift one group over another.

Intergroup Conflict

Tension and conflict which exists between social groups, and which may be enacted by

individual members of these groups.

Inclusion

Authentically bringing traditionally excluded individuals and/or groups into processes, activities,

and decision/policy making in a way that shares power.

Indigeneity

The state of being from an indigenous population. Indigenous people are composed of the

existing descendants of the peoples who inhabited the present territory of a country wholly or

partially at the time when persons of a different culture or ethnic origin arrived there from other

parts of the world, overcame them, by conquest, settlement or other means and reduced them to a

non-dominant or colonial condition; and who today live more in conformity with their particular

social, economic and cultural customs and traditions than with the institutions of the country of

which they now form part, under a state structure which incorporates mainly national, social and

cultural characteristics of other segments of the population which are predominant. (Example:

Maori in territory now defined as New Zealand; Mexicans in territory now defined as Texas,

California, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada and parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, and

Oklahoma; Native American tribes in territory now defined as the United States

Individual Racism

Refers to the beliefs, attitudes, and actions of individuals who support or perpetuate racism.

Individual racism can be deliberate, or the individual may act to perpetuate or support racism without knowing what he or she is doing: for example, telling a racist joke or believing in the inherent superiority of Whites over other groups.

Institutional Racism

Institutional racism refers specifically to the ways in which institutional policies and practices

create different outcomes for different racial groups but always benefitting the dominant group.

The institutional policies may never mention any racial group, but their effect is to create

advantages for Whites and oppression and disadvantage for people from groups classified as

people of color: for example, city sanitation department policies that concentrate trash transfer

stations and other environmental hazards disproportionately in communities of color.

Internalized Oppression

a process by which people come to accept and internalize the inaccurate myths and stereotypes

they have been exposed to.

Internalized Racism

The situation that occurs in a racist system when a racial group oppressed by racism supports the

supremacy and dominance of the dominating group by maintaining or participating in the set of

attitudes, behaviors, social structures and ideologies that undergird the dominating group's

power.

Resources

broadly defined assets (e.g. money, time, etc.) that are unequally in the

hands, and under the control, of White people. Internalized racism is the system in place

that makes it difficult for people of color to get access to resources for their own

communities and to control the resources of their community.

Standards

With internalized racism, the standards for what is appropriate or "normal"

that people of color accept are those of the dominant group, or White/Eurocentric

standards. People of color have difficulty naming, communicating and living up to their

deepest standards and values, and holding themselves and each other accountable to

them

Naming the problem

There is a system in place that misnames the problem of racism

as a problem of or caused by people of color and blames the disease - emotional,

economic, political, etc. - on people of color. With internalized racism, people of color

might, for example, believe they are more violent than White people and not consider

state-sanctioned political violence or the hidden or privatized violence of White power

structure.

Interpersonal Racism

When private beliefs are put in interaction with others, racism resides in the interpersonal realm:

for example, a public expression of racial prejudice, hate, bias and bigotry between individuals

Intersectionality

Intersectionality:

An approach largely advanced by women of color, arguing that classifications such as gender,

race, class, and others cannot be examined in isolation from one another; they interact and

intersect in individuals’ lives, in society, in social systems, and are mutually constitutive. For

example, a Black woman in America does not experience gender inequalities in exactly the same

way as a White woman, nor racial oppression identical to that experienced by a Black man. Each

race and gender intersection produces a qualitatively distinct life.

Marginalized

Excluded, ignored, or relegated to the outer edge of a group/society/community.

Model Minority

Refers to a minority ethnic, racial, or religious group whose members achieve

a higher degree of success than the population average and who are assumed by the dominant

group to be a model of assimilation for other marginalized groups. This success is typically

measured in income, education, and related factors such as low crime rate and high family

stability.

Movement Building

Movement building is the effort of social change agents to engage power holders and the broader

society in addressing a systemic problem or injustice while promoting an alternative vision or

solution. Movement building requires a range of intersecting approaches through a set of distinct

stages over a long-term period of time. Through movement building, organizers can

• Propose solutions to the root causes of social problems;

• Enable people to exercise their collective power;

• Humanize groups that have been denied basic human rights and improve conditions for the

groups affected;

• Create structural change by building something larger than a particular organization or

campaign; and

• Promote visions and values for society based on fairness, justice and democracy

Multicultural Competency:

A process of learning about and becoming allies with people from other cultural backgrounds,

thereby broadening our own understanding and ability to positively interact with diverse people

and groups. The key element to becoming more culturally competent is respect for the ways that

others live in and organize the world, and an openness to learn from them.

Oppression

The use of power to disenfranchise and marginalize groups of people, usually people of color,

for the benefit of another, usually Whites, in order to dominate the culture and society. It may

also be defined as the use of institutional power and privilege for domination.

People of Color

A collective term for men and women of Asian, African, Latin and Native American

backgrounds; as opposed to the collective "White" for those of European ancestry.

Prejudice

A pre-judgment or unjustifiable, and usually negative, attitude of one type of individual or

groups toward another group and its members. Such negative attitudes are typically based on

unsupported generalizations (or stereotypes) that deny the right of individual members of certain

groups to be recognized and treated as individuals with individual characteristics.

Privilege

Unearned social power accorded by the formal and informal institutions of society to ALL

members of a dominant group (e.g. White privilege, male privilege, etc.). Privilege is usually

invisible to those who have it because they are taught not to see it, but nevertheless it puts them

at an advantage over those who do not have it.

Race

An historical and political construction created to concentrate power with White people

and legitimize dominance over non-White people.

Racial and Ethnic Identity

An individual's awareness and experience of being a member of a racial and ethnic group; the

racial and ethnic categories that an individual chooses to describe him or herself based on such

factors as biological heritage, physical appearance, cultural affiliation, early socialization, and

personal experience.

Racial Equity

Racial equity is the condition that would be achieved if one's racial identity no longer predicted,

in a statistical sense, how one fares. When we use the term, we are thinking about racial equity as

one part of racial justice, and thus we also include work to address root causes of inequities not just their manifestation. This includes elimination of policies, practices, attitudes and cultural

messages that reinforce differential outcomes by race or fail to eliminate them.

Racial Justice

The proactive reinforcement of policies, practices, attitudes and actions that

produce equitable power, access, opportunities, treatment, impacts and outcomes for all.

Racial Reconciliation

An historical and political construction created to concentrate power with White people

and legitimize dominance over non-White people.