Key Terminology

AAVE stands for African American Vernacular English. It is a variety of English that is spoken by many Black people in the United States, and it is characterized by its own set of grammatical rules, vocabulary, and pronunciation.

Ableism is discrimination against disabled people. It can be physical barriers or negative attitudes and stereotypes. It affects education, employment, and other areas of life. Ableism is perpetuated by societal norms and impacts the quality of life and well-being of disabled people.

Accessibility refers to creating products, services, and environments in a way that is inclusive and enables disabled people to fully participate.

Affirmative action is a policy that helps more marginalized people have equal opportunities. It might involve hiring more people from these groups or giving them more support.

Ageism is discrimination or prejudice against people based on their age. It reinforces negative stereotypes and biases about older people.

Allyship is actively supporting and advocating for marginalized groups. An ally is someone who uses their privilege or power to stand up for disadvantaged groups.

Anti-blackness is the prejudice and discrimination against Black people. It is based on the belief that Black people are inferior to other racial groups and is often reinforced by societal norms and institutions.

Anti-racism is the active work of identifying and opposing racism in ourselves, our communities and our institutions. It goes beyond not being racist: it means changing the policies and practices that produce racial inequality.

Antisemitism is a form of prejudice or discrimination against Jews, based on the belief that Jews are a separate and inferior race, religion, or nationality. Antisemitism can take many forms, including violence, hate speech, discrimination in employment or education, and other forms of persecution.

Cash bail is a system that allows people who have been arrested to be released from jail before their trial by paying a set amount of money. If they don’t go to court as required, they may lose the bail or be pursued for the full amount.

Code-switching is changing how you speak, dress or behave depending on who you’re around. For many people of color it’s a way to get through spaces shaped by the dominant culture, and it can take a real toll.

Color-blindness is the belief that the best way to end racism is to ignore race. Ignoring race doesn’t make racial patterns go away; it leaves people, including children, to draw their own conclusions about the inequality they see.

Colorism is discrimination that favors people with lighter skin over people with darker skin, including within the same racial or ethnic group. The writer Alice Walker is credited with coining the term in the early 1980s.

Critical race theory is an academic framework that legal scholars including Derrick Bell and Kimberlé Crenshaw developed starting in the late 1970s. It holds that racism is built into laws and institutions as well as individual bias. Opponents now use the term for a wide range of K-12 lessons on race.

Cultural appropriation is the act of taking elements of a marginalized culture and using them without proper understanding or respect for their original context or significance.

Decolonization refers to the process of dismantling colonial systems and structures, and the restoration of self-determination and sovereignty to colonized peoples.

Disability justice is a social justice movement that recognizes and challenges ableism, the discrimination and oppression of disabled people.

Dominant culture refers to the cultural values, beliefs, and practices that are prevalent in a society and that are often associated with mainstream or dominant groups. Dominant culture is often characterized by its dominance over other cultures and its ability to shape and influence societal norms and expectations.

Environmental justice is the principle that all people deserve equal protection from pollution and an equal voice in decisions about the land, air and water where they live.

Environmental racism is the set of policies and practices that expose communities of color to more pollution and environmental hazards than white communities, whether or not anyone intended that result.

Ethnicity is a social and cultural concept that refers to a group of people who share a common identity based on shared cultural characteristics, such as language, religion, traditions, and ancestry.

Ethnocentrism is the belief that one’s own culture or group is superior to others and that the practices and beliefs of one’s own group should be the standard by which all other cultures are judged.

Felony disenfranchisement is the set of laws that take away the right to vote from people convicted of felonies. Rules range from no restrictions in Maine and Vermont to lifetime bans for some crimes in other states.

Gentrification is the arrival of higher-income residents and investment in a lower-income neighborhood, which often raises rents and property values and can push longtime residents out.

Gerrymandering is the practice of manipulating the boundaries of electoral districts to create an unfair advantage for a certain political party or group.

Implicit biases are attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner. These biases are not necessarily based on personal prejudices or beliefs, but rather on societal and cultural conditioning.

Internalized oppression is the internalization of negative messages and beliefs about oneself and one’s group that are perpetuated by a society or system that oppresses them. It can manifest as self-hatred, low self-esteem, self-doubt, and a lack of self-worth.

Intersectionality describes how aspects of a person’s identity, such as their race, gender, sexual orientation, class, and ability, intersect and can create unique experiences of discrimination or privilege.

Mass incarceration describes the United States’ practice of imprisoning people on a scale far beyond other countries. Harsh sentencing laws, the war on drugs and cash bail drove its growth, and Black and Latino people are imprisoned at much higher rates than white people.

Microaggressions are conscious or unconscious actions or behaviors based on one’s marginalized identities.

Misogynoir describes the specific forms of misogyny and sexism that Black women experience. It is a combination of the words misogyny, which refers to the hatred or dislike of women, and noir, which means black in French.

The model minority myth is a stereotype that suggests certain minority groups, especially Asian Americans, are naturally more successful and hardworking than others due to their culture, not systemic barriers and discrimination.

Mutual aid is when community members share resources and support directly with one another, such as food, money, rides or childcare. It is built on solidarity rather than charity: people help each other instead of waiting on institutions.

Oppression is the systemic use of power and authority to discriminate against and marginalize a particular group of people, often on the basis of their race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or other characteristics.

Performative allyship is support for a marginalized group that is mainly done to be seen, such as a social media post, without the ongoing action that allyship requires.

Qualified immunity is a rule that protects police and other government officials from being sued for damages if they are accused of breaking someone’s constitutional rights.

The racial wealth gap is the difference in household wealth between white and Black families. Many reparations plans measure harm and set payment goals using this gap.

Redlining is a practice of discrimination in which businesses deny or limit services, like mortgages or insurance, based on the racial makeup of neighborhoods. It often targets minority neighborhoods and limits access to credit and wealth. It’s illegal under federal fair housing laws.

Reparations are actions taken to compensate for harm or injury, particularly in the context of racial justice. This may include financial compensation for the descendants of enslaved people and marginalized communities in the US.

Reproductive justice is a framework created by Black women in 1994 that covers the right to have children, the right to not have children and the right to raise children in safe communities.

Restorative justice is an approach to harm that focuses on repairing it rather than punishing it. The person who caused harm, the person harmed and their community work together on what happened and what it will take to make things right.

The school-to-prison pipeline describes policies, such as zero-tolerance discipline and police in schools, that push students out of classrooms and into the juvenile and criminal legal systems. Black students and students with disabilities are disciplined at disproportionately high rates.

Systemic racism is racial inequality built into laws, institutions and practices, separate from any one person’s attitudes. The 1968 Kerner report described it when it said white institutions created and maintained the ghetto.

Tokenism is including a small number of marginalized people to appear diverse without addressing discrimination. It often involves giving token roles or responsibilities without equal opportunities or support.

Tone policing is dismissing what someone says about injustice because of how they said it, such as calling them too angry or too emotional. It shifts attention from the harm to the delivery.

Voter suppression is the practice of intentionally making it harder for certain groups of people to vote.

White feminism is a form of feminism that focuses exclusively on the experiences and needs of white women, often without acknowledging or addressing the intersections of race, class, and other forms of oppression that shape the experiences of women of color and other marginalized groups.

White privilege is the set of unearned advantages that white people receive in society because of their race. Peggy McIntosh’s 1989 essay listed dozens of everyday examples.

White savior complex refers to the belief that white people have a responsibility or a right to save or rescue people of color from their problems or circumstances. The white savior complex often involves a sense of superiority and a lack of awareness of one’s own privilege.

White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to people of other races, and the systems built on that belief that give white people more power and advantages. It includes extremist groups, but it also describes everyday laws, institutions and norms that keep a racial hierarchy in place.

Xenophobia is a fear or hatred of people from other countries or cultures. It is often manifested as discrimination or prejudice against people who are perceived as being different or foreign.