Race, Racism & Anti-Racism

Definition: An acronym for Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander.

Source: SEARAC, Southeast Asian American Statistical Profile, 2004

Definition: An acronym for Asian American Pacific Islander.

Source: SEARAC, Southeast Asian American Statistical Profile, 2004

Definition: It’s important to recognize that the term “AAPI” (Asian American and Pacific Islanders) encompasses a wide range of countries, ethnicities, nationalities, and identities. Many different communities within AAPI label face their own unique challenges: from the trauma faced by those who survived wars in Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam; Japanese Americans who remember the internment camps of the WW2 era; or the anxiety felt by the children of first-generation immigrants to reconcile their cultural heritage with American life. The struggles faced by Filipinx Americans vary from the experiences of Indian Americans (not to be confused with Native Americans). Additionally, Native Hawaiians, who are grouped into the category of AAPI as Pacific Islanders, still experience generations of historical trauma from the colonialization of the islands of Hawaii.

Source: Mental Health America

Definition: An acronym for African, Hispanic, Asian and Native American descent.

Source: SEARAC, Southeast Asian American Statistical Profile, 2004

Definition: As a general rule, an American Indian or Alaska Native person is someone who has blood degree from and is recognized as such by a federally recognized tribe or village (as an enrolled tribal member) and/or the United States. Of course, blood quantum (the degree of American Indian or Alaska Native blood from a federally recognized tribe or village that a person possesses) is not the only means by which a person is considered to be an American Indian or Alaska Native. Other factors, such as a person’s knowledge of his or her tribe’s culture, history, language, religion, familial kinships, and how strongly a person identifies himself or herself as American Indian or Alaska Native, are also important. In fact, there is no single federal or tribal criterion or standard that establishes a person’s identity as American Indian or Alaska Native.

Source: U.S Department of the Interior Indian Affairs

Definition: According to Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB), “American Indian or Alaska Native” refers to a
person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America) and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment.

Source: United States Census Bureau (2010)

Definition: Some definitions of who is AIAN start with the principle of self-identification, which means that an American Indian/Alaska Native is a person who reports being American Indian and/or Alaska Native (in a race question or perhaps an ancestry question).

Because American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and their members have unique political status, some definitions of AIAN include only enrolled members of federally recognized tribes. This definition includes only a small portion of AIANs (Thornton 1997). For example, it excludes individuals with American Indian ancestors who have missing family tree information or who have ancestors from a variety of tribes, bands, or villages.

Source: US National Library of Medicine – Counting America’s First Peoples, Carolyn A. Liebler

Definition: An acronym for Asian Pacific American.

Source: SEARAC, Southeast Asian American Statistical Profile, 2004

Definition: An acronym for Asian Pacific Islander Desi American; a pan-ethnic classification that intentionally includes South Asians (Desi). Encompasses a great diversity of identities and ethnicities including;

• East Asian: China (including Macau and Hong Kong), Korea, Japan, Okinawa, Taiwan, and Mongolia.
• South Asian: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Ethnic groups include Sindhi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Tamil, and many others.
• Southeast Asian: Burma, Brunei, Cambodia (Khmer, Cham, KhmerLoeu), Indonesia, Laos (Hmong, Lao, Lao Loum, Iu Mien, Khmu, Tai Dam, Tai Leu, and many other ethnic groups), Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Philippines, and Vietnam (Vietnamese, Khmer Kampuchea Krom, Montagnards).
• Pacific Islander: Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia. Polynesia includes Hawaii, Samoa, American Samoa, Tokelau, Tahiti, and Tonga. Micronesia includes Guam, Mariana Islands, Saipan, Palau, Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kosrae, Marshall Islands, and Kiribati. Melanesia includes Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu.

Source: SEARAC, Southeast Asian American Statistical Profile, 2004

Definition: Defined by the Office of Management and Budget as “a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent.” The six largest sub-groups of Asian Americans are from China, the Philippines, India, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan.

Source: PLWG – Program Leaders Working Group – Access, Equity and Belonging Committee

Definition: A native or inhabitant of Asia or a person of Asian descent.
Note: Asia is the largest of the continents with more than half the world’s population and 50 countries including Russia. Though strictly speaking all of its inhabitants are Asians, in practice this term is applied almost exclusively to the peoples of East, Southeast, and South Asia as opposed to those of Southwest Asia such as Arabs, Turks, Iranians, and Kurds who are more usually designated Middle or Near Easterners. Indonesians and Filipinos are also termed Asian, since their island groups are considered part of the Asian continent, but not the Melanesians, Micronesians, and Polynesians of the central and southern Pacific, who are now often referred to collectively as Pacific Islanders.

Source: Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center

Definition: BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color). By including “BI” Black and Indigenous in addition to “POC” people of color, we are honoring the unique experiences of Black and Indigenous individuals and their communities, as well as the spectrum of existence and experience by POC – People of Color.

Source: Mental Health America

Definition: An acronym that stands for Black, Indigenous, and people of color; used to promote visibility among Indigenous and Black people and to call attention to colonialism and anti-Blackness.

This is a more recent term developed to draw attention to Black and Indigenous people within “POC” term. Its usage is increasing within mainstream publications.

Source: Adapted from multiple sources – BMC’s employee center Diversity + Inclusion shared resource library, they list Self-Care Resources for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC)

Definition: According to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), “Black or African American” refers to a person
having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa. The Black racial category includes people who marked the “Black, African Am., or Negro” checkbox. It also includes respondents who reported entries such as African American; Sub-Saharan African entries, such as Kenyan and Nigerian; and Afro-Caribbean entries, such as Haitian and Jamaican.*

*Sub-Saharan African entries are classified as Black or African American with the exception of Sudanese and Cape Verdean because of their complex, historical heritage. North African entries are classified as White, as OMB defines White as a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.

Source: United States Census Bureau (2010)

Definition: CRT is a practice of interrogating the role of race and racism in society that emerged in the legal academy and spread to other fields of scholarship. Crenshaw—who coined the term “CRT”—notes that CRT is not a noun, but a verb. It cannot be confined to a static and narrow definition but is considered to be an evolving and malleable practice. It critiques how the social construction of race and institutionalized racism perpetuate a racial caste system that relegates people of color to the bottom tiers. CRT also recognizes that race intersects with other identities, including sexuality, gender identity, and others. CRT recognizes that racism is not a bygone relic of the past. Instead, it acknowledges that the legacy of slavery, segregation, and the imposition of second-class citizenship on Black Americans and other people of color continue to permeate the social fabric of this nation.

Source: Adapted from American Bar Association – ABA

Definition: The Critical Race Theory movement considers many of the same issues that conventional civil rights and ethnic studies take up, but places them in a broader perspective that includes economics, history, and even feelings and the unconscious. Unlike traditional civil rights, which embraces incrementalism and step by step progress, critical race theory questions the very foundations of the liberal order, including equality theory, legal reasoning, Enlightenment rationalism, and principles of constitutional law.

Source: Racial Equity Tools – (Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic, Critical Race Theory: An Introduction, NYU Press, 2001 (2nd ed. 2012, 3rd ed. 2017))

Definition: A social construct that divides people into smaller social groups based on characteristics such as shared sense of group membership, values, behavioral patterns, language, political and economic interests, history, and ancestral geographical base.

Examples of different ethnic groups are: Cape Verdean, Haitian, African American (Black); Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese (Asian); Cherokee, Mohawk, Navaho (Native American); Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican (Latino); Polish, Irish, and Swedish (White).

Source: Racial Equity (Tools Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice: A Sourcebook, edited by Maurianne Adams, Lee Anne Bell, and Pat Griffin, Routledge, 1997)

Definition: Ethnicity refers to shared culture, such as language, ancestry, practices, and beliefs.

Source: American Sociological Association

Definition: Classification of human-based on shared cultural heritage, such as place of birth, language, customs, etc. Do not use “race” as a synonym.

Source: UMass Medical + UMassMemorial Health Care’s Diversity + Inclusion, Diversity Toolkit

Definition: Americans who identify themselves as being of Spanish-speaking background and trace their origin or descent from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Central and South America, and other Spanish-speaking countries. This includes 20 Spanish-speaking nations from Latin America and Spain itself, but not Portugal or Portuguese-speaking Brazil.

Source: Pew Research Center – Who is Hispanic?

Definition: Hispanics or Latino refers to a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race.

Source: Census.gov

Definition: Indigenous peoples are inheritors and practitioners of unique cultures and ways of relating to people and the environment. They have retained social, cultural, economic and political characteristics that are distinct from those of the dominant societies in which they live. Despite their cultural differences, indigenous peoples from around the world share common problems related to the protection of their rights as distinct peoples.

Indigenous peoples have sought recognition of their identities, way of life and their right to traditional lands, territories and natural resources for years, yet throughout history, their rights have always been violated. Indigenous peoples today, are arguably among the most disadvantaged and vulnerable groups of people in the world. The international community now recognizes that special measures are required to protect their rights and maintain their distinct cultures and way of life.

Source: UN – Department of Economic and Social Affairs – Indigenous Peoples

Definition: Generally, Indigenous refers to those peoples with pre-existing sovereignty who were living together as a community prior to contact with settler populations, most often – though not exclusively – Europeans. Indigenous is the most inclusive term, as there are Indigenous peoples on every continent throughout the world – such as the Sami in Sweden, the First Nations in Canada, Mayas in Mexico and Guatemala, and the Ainu in Japan – fighting to remain culturally intact on their land bases. Indigenous Peoples refers to a group of Indigenous peoples with a shared national identity, such as “Navajo” or “Sami,” and is the equivalent of saying “the American people.”

Source: UCLA – Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

Definition: Pronounced “Latin-ex,” is a gender-neutral way to describe people of Latin American descent. The “x” makes Latino, a masculine identifier, gender-neutral. It also moves beyond Latin@ to encompass genders outside of the limiting male-female binary.

Source: National LGBTQ Task Force – LGBTQ+ Glossary of Terms

Definition: The term multiethnic refers to persons who identify with more than one ethnicity. Persons who are multiethnic may not identify as multiracial. For example, a person who identifies monoracially as white may identify multiethnically because her ethnic heritage includes Italian, Irish, and Norwegian. Similarly, someone whose father identifies as Puerto Rican and his mother as Mexican may not identify as multiracial, but rather as a Latino with multiethnic heritage.

Source: Encyclopedia of Social Work – National Association of Social Worker Press and Oxford University Press

Definition: Pertaining to two or more ethnic identities. An identity category growing in usage and popularity by those who understand their ethnic identity and heritage to be rooted in more than one ethnic tradition. Made up of, involving or acting in the interest of more than one ethnic group.

Source: Adpated from YW Boston.org – Social Justice Glossary

Definition: Multiracial are people who have at least two races in their background (including themselves, their parents or their grandparents). The U.S. Census Bureau says 2.1% of American adults check more than one race. Using a broader definition that factors in the racial backgrounds of parents and grandparents, a new Pew Research Center report finds that 6.9% of U.S. adults, or nearly 17 million, could be considered multiracial today.

Source: Adapted from Pew Research Center – Multiracial in America

Definition: The Two or More Races population refers to people who reported more than one of the six race categories.
In Census 2000, for the first time, individuals were presented with the option to self-identify with more than one race, and this continued with the 2010 Census.

Source: United States Census Bureau (2010)

Definition: The term “Native American” came into broad usage in the 1970’s as an alternative to “American Indian.” Since that time, however, it has been gradually expanded within the public lexicon to include all Native peoples of the United States and its trust territories, i.e., American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, Chamorros, and American Samoans, as well as persons from Canada First Nations and indigenous communities in Mexico and Central and South America who are U.S. residents.

Source: U.S Department of the Interior Indian Affairs

Definition: Native American and American Indian are terms used to refer to peoples living within what is now the United States prior to European contact. American Indian has a specific legal context because the branch of law, Federal Indian Law, uses this terminology. American Indian is also used by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget through the U.S. Census Bureau. Whenever possible, it is best to use the name of an individual’s particular Indigenous community or nation of people; for example, “Tongva,” “Tataviam” and “Chumash” are the Indigenous Peoples of the Los Angeles area, and they are also “American Indian,” “Native American,” and “Indigenous.”

Source: UCLA – Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

Definition: As a general principle an Indian is a person who is of some degree Indian blood and is recognized as an Indian by a tribe/village and/or the United States. There exists no universally accepted rule for establishing a person’s identity as an Indian. The criteria for tribal membership differs from one tribe to the next. To determine a particular tribe’s criteria, one must contact that tribe directly. For its own purposes, the Bureau of the Census counts anyone an Indian who declares to be such. By recent counts, there are more than 2.9 million Native Americans, including Native Alaskans and Native Hawaiians.

Source: Native American Rights Fund – NARF

Definition: Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander is defined as “a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.”

Source: PLWG – Program Leaders Working Group – Access, Equity and Belonging Committee

Definition: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.

Source: Census.gov

Definition: Often the preferred collective term for referring to non-White racial groups. Racial justice advocates have been using the term “people of color” (not to be confused with the pejorative “colored people”) since the late 1970s as an inclusive and unifying frame across different racial groups that are not White, to address racial inequities. While “people of color” can be a politically useful term, and describes people with their own attributes (as opposed to what they are not, e.g., “non-White”), it is also important whenever possible to identify people through their own racial/ethnic group, as each has its own distinct experience and meaning and may be more appropriate.

Source: Race Forward, “Race Reporting Guide” (2015)

Definition: A self-defined, asset-based term for people who do not identify as white, often abbreviated POC; used in place of “minority” which connotes “less than” and in place of “non-white,” which is deficit-based.

The term was started by women of color in solidarity with each other, according to Loretta Ross formerly of SisterSong, Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective (2011).

Source: Adapted from multiple sources

Definition: A socially constructed way of grouping people, based on skin color and other apparent physical differences, which has no genetic or scientific basis. This social construct was created and used to justify social, political, and economic oppression of people of color by white people.

Source: Adapted from Race: The Power of an Illusion.org

Definition: Race does not provide an accurate representation of human biological variation. It was never accurate in the past, and it remains inaccurate when referencing contemporary human populations. Humans are not divided biologically into distinct continental types or racial genetic clusters. Instead, the Western concept of race must be understood as a classification system that emerged from, and in support of, European colonialism, oppression, and discrimination. It thus does not have its roots in biological reality, but in policies of discrimination. Because of that, over the last five centuries, race has become a social reality that structures societies and how we experience the world. In this regard, race is real, as is racism, and both have real biological consequences.

Source: AAPA Definition of Race as published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, vol. 101, pp 569-570, 1996

Definition: Race is a powerful social category forged historically through oppression, slavery, and conquest. Most geneticists agree that racial taxonomies at the DNA level are invalid. Genetic differences within any designated racial group are often greater than differences between racial groups. Most genetic markers do not differ sufficiently by race to be useful in medical research (Duster, 2009; Cosmides, 2003).

Source: Gendered Innovations in Science, Health & Medicine, Engineering, and Environment – Stanford University

Definition: Signifies being mindful of the impact of policies and practices on different racialized groups in our society. Race-consciousness can motivate a desire to become informed about how injustice occurs and to be intentional about seeking redress (Bell, 2016). Race- consciousness contradicts color-blindness through actively seeking to perceive, understand, and challenge racism. It also paves the way for imagining a more just and inclusive society that affirms diversity rather than reducing it to a white normative ideal.” (Bell, et al., p. 138)

Source: Harvard Diversity, Equity, Access, Inclusion & Belonging

Definition: Explicit acknowledgment of the workings of race and racism in social contexts or in one’s personal life.

Source: ICMA – International City/County Management Association

Definition: An intentional practice to re-humanize and reinforce the power of People of Color and White People, not based on whiteness, but on our shared humanity and different realities. The ideology of individual and collective power and humanity is embedded in internalized, interpersonal and institutional habits that facilitate People of Color and White People reaching their full human potential.

Source: Dr. S. Atyia Martin – All Aces

Definition: The state in which race no longer determines one’s life outcomes. In terms of the workplace, those outcomes are recruitment, hiring, mentorship, advancement, leadership, retention, salary, overall wellbeing, and more. Racial equity is when everyone has what they need to thrive professionally and are free of racism, race-based harassment, bias, discrimination, and microaggressions. As a process, we apply racial equity when those most impacted by structural racial inequity are meaningfully involved in the creation and implementation of the institutional policies and practices that impact their professional lives. In academic medicine, this means underrepresented groups (URG), specifically Black or African American, Hispanic or Latinx, Native American or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander ; it also broadly includes People of Color who may be well represented but do not share equal power and resources.

Source: Adapted from the Race Forward

Definition: To restore to health or soundness; to repair or set right; to restore to spiritual wholeness.

Source: Racial Equity Tools (Michael R. Wenger, Racial Equity Resource Guide (W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 2012))

Definition: Racial healing recognizes the need to acknowledge and tell the truth about past wrongs created by individual and systemic racism and address the present consequences. It is a process and tool that can facilitate trust and build authentic relationships that bridge divides created by real and perceived differences.

Source: American Library Association – ALA

Definition: Outcomes resulting from systemic racism and injustice, where people of color fare much worse than their white counterparts. We tend to use different terms to describe racial inequities such as “achievement gap” in education, “health disparities” in healthcare, neutralizing the cause of these differences. According to the 2015 Color of Wealth report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, there are significant differences in wealth (assets minus debts) by race in Boston. White people had a median household net worth of $247,000 compared to African Americans having $8. This is a result of unjust policies and systems that historically benefited White people and disadvantaged people of color and continue to do so.

Source: Office of Equity, Vitality, and Inclusion, Boston University of Medicine, Boston Medical Center, and Boston University Medical Group. Glossary for Culture Transformation. 2021.

Definition: Racial inequity is when two or more racial groups are not standing on approximately equal footing. Here’s an example of racial inequity: 71 percent of White families lived in owner-occupied homes in 2014, compared to 45 percent of Latinx families and 41 percent of Black families.

Source: Dr. Ibram X. Kendi defines what it means to be an antiracist – Pengui.co.uk

Definition: The creation and proactive reinforcement of policies, practices, attitudes, and actions that produce equitable power, access, opportunities, treatment, and outcomes for all people (including health outcomes), regardless of race.

Source: Adapted from Race Forward and the Boston Public Health Commission

Definition: Racial justice is the systematic fair treatment of people of all races, resulting in equitable opportunities and outcomes for all. Racial justice — or racial equity — goes beyond “anti-racism.” It is not just the absence of discrimination and inequities, but also the presence of deliberate systems and supports to achieve and sustain racial equity through proactive and preventative measures.

Source: National Education Association – Racial Justice in Education

Definition: Racial justice is the systematic fair treatment of people of all races that results in equitable opportunities and outcomes for everyone. All people are able to achieve their full potential in life, regardless of race, ethnicity or the community in which they live. A “racial justice” framework can move us from a reactive posture to a more powerful, proactive and even preventive approach.

Source: The Annie E. Casey Foundation – Equity vs. Equality and Other Racial Justice Definitions

Definition: The structuring of social groups by race through a process in which racial categories are applied based on observed characteristics, and these categories are imbued with meaning (Bonilla-Silva, 2005, p. 469; Guess, 2006; Lipsitz, 1995).
Example: American poverty was racialized in the 1960s by the White U.S. media, which portrayed poor people as being lazy, undeserving and Black, around the same time that the Civil Rights Movement sought to end racial segregation and discrimination (Gilens, 2003).

Source: BUSSW Racial & Social Justice Vocabulary List

Definition: The ongoing process by which we all are shaped by racial grouping or “racialized” by structural policies/practices, institutional/organizational cultures, and interpersonal interactions. Our daily experiences of being “raced” or “racialized”. An
acknowledgment that these daily experiences look and are experienced differently across various communities and category of identity.

Source: YW Boston.org – Social Justice Glossary

Definition: The practice of making only a perfunctory or symbolic effort to do a particular thing, especially by recruiting a small number of people from underrepresented groups in order to give the appearance of sexual or racial equality within a workforce. Essentially, it gives the appearance of equality without achieving it, and can give a false sense of achievement. For example, many corporate boards may have only one woman director, which may be considered tokenism if there is not an inclusive environment on the board.

Source: Berkeley | Equity Fluent Leaders Glossary of Key Terms

Definition: The making of a perfunctory or symbolic gesture that suggests commitment to a practice or standard, particularly by hiring or promoting a single member of a previously excluded group to demonstrate one’s benevolent intentions. For example, an all-White company may hire a token Black employee to give the appearance of organizational parity as opposed to actually eliminating racial inequality in the workplace. Tokenism depends on the prevailing norms, structures, and conceptualizations of the cultural context in which it is embedded.

Source: American Psychological Association – APA

Definition: A state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable [for white people], 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. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium.

Source: Robin DiAngelo, “White Fragility” (International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, 2011).

Definition: A state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes 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; these behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium.

Source: ICMA – International City/County Management Association

Definition: According to OMB, “White” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. The White racial category includes people who marked the “White” checkbox. It also includes respondents who reported entries such as Caucasian or White; European entries, such as Irish, German, and Polish; Middle Eastern entries, such as Arab, Lebanese, and Palestinian; and North African entries, such as Algerian, Moroccan, and Egyptian.

Source: United States Census Bureau (2010)

Definition: The first form of anti-Blackness is overt racism. Beneath this anti-Black racism is the covert structural and systemic racism which categorically predetermines the socioeconomic status of Blacks in this country. The structure is held in place by anti-Black policies, institutions, and ideologies.

The second form of anti-Blackness is the unethical disregard for Black institutions and policies. This disregard is the product of class, race, and/or gender privilege certain individuals experience due to anti-Black institutions and policies. This form of anti-Blackness is protected by the first form of overt racism.

Source: Adapted from ICMA – International City/County Management Association

Definition: Behaviors, attitudes and practices of people and institutions that work to dehumanize black people in order to maintain white supremacy. Anti-blackness can also be internalized and might show up in black people or black communities in the form of colorism, an elevation of white culture or attempts to separate oneself from black cultural norms.

Source: Amherst College – Race and Ethnicity Terms & Definitions

Definition: Anti-Black racism is the name of the specific kind of racial prejudice directed towards Black people. Anti-Blackness devalues Blackness, while systematically marginalizing Black people, the issues that affect them, and the institutions created to support them. The first form of anti-Blackness is overt racism, which is upheld by covert structural and systemic racism that categorically predetermines the socioeconomic status of Blacks in this country. The second form of anti-Blackness is unethical disregard for Black people, as seen in the cases of police, or civilian, brutality against Black bodies.

Source: Adapted from Breadfortheworld.org – A reflection on anti-Black racism

Definition: The active and conscious effort to work against the multi-dimensional aspects of racism; undoing racism requires consistently identifying it, describing it and then dismantling it. Note: does not mean ‘non-racist.’ According to The National Museum of African American History and Culture, “No one is born racist or antiracist; these result from the choices we make. Being antiracist results from a conscious decision to make frequent, consistent, equitable choices daily. These choices require ongoing self-awareness and self-reflection as we move through life. In the absence of making antiracist choices, we (un)consciously uphold aspects of white supremacy, white-dominant culture, and unequal institutions and society. Being racist or antiracist is not about who you are; it is about what you do.

Source: Adapted from Dr. Ibram X. Kendi and Dr. Robert J. Patterson

Definition: The work of actively opposing racism by advocating for changes in political, economic, and social life. Anti-racism tends to be an individualized approach, and set up in opposition to individual racist behaviors and impacts.

Source: National Education Association

Definition: Anti-racism is also a system – a system in which we create policies, practices, and procedures to promote racial equity. Anti-racism generates antiracist thoughts and ideas to justify the racial equity it creates by uplifting the innate humanity and individuality of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.

Anti-racism recognizes that there are no traits inherent within a racial group solely because of the color of their skin. Anti-racism forces us to analyze the role that institutions and systems play in the racial inequities we see, rather than assign the blame to entire racial groups and their “behavioral differences” for those inequities.

Source: National League of Cities – What Does It Mean to Be an Anti-racist?

Definition: One who is supporting an antiracist policy through their actions or expressing an antiracist idea. It’s not enough to simply be “not racist.” “The opposite of ‘racist’ isn’t ‘not racist,’”. “It is ‘antiracist.

Source: How To Be An Antiracist, Adapted from Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, Random House, 2019

Definition: Intolerant prejudice that glorifies one’s own group and denigrates members of other groups.

Source: Racial Equity Tools – National Conference for Community and Justice, St. Louis Region. Unpublished handout used in the Dismantling Racism Institute program.

Definition: Extreme intolerance of the beliefs and opinions of an individual or group, particularly racial or religious. Some examples are preventing a qualified candidate from getting a job or promotion because of bigoted views of their race, and verbally harassing an individual after learning about their religious beliefs.

Source: Open Education Sociology Dictionary

Definition: BlackLivesMatter was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer. Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Inc. is a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. By combating and countering acts of violence, creating space for Black imagination and innovation, and centering Black joy, we are winning immediate improvements in our lives.

Source: Black Lives Matter

Definition: A political movement to address systemic and state violence against African Americans. Per the Black Lives Matter organizers: In 2013, three radical Black organizers — Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometiï — created a Black-centered political will- and movement-building project called #BlackLivesMatter in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer, George Zimmerman. The project is now a member-led global network of more than 40 chapters. Black Lives Matter members organize and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes.

Black Lives Matter is an ideological and political intervention in a world where Black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise. It is an affirmation of Black people’s humanity, their contributions to [this] society, and their resilience in the face of deadly oppression.”

Source: ICMA – International City/County Management Association

Definition: Colorblindness is the idea that ignoring or overlooking racial and ethnic differences promotes racial harmony.

Source: Learning for Justice.org – Colorblindness: the New Racism?

Definition: A term used to describe the act or practice of disregarding or ignoring racial characteristics, or being uninfluenced by racial prejudice. The concept of colorblindness is often promoted by those who dismiss the importance of race in order to proclaim the end of racism. It presents challenges when discussing diversity, which requires being racially aware, and equity that is focused on fairness for people of all races.

Source: National Education Association

Definition: The word “genocide” was first coined by Polish lawyer Raphäel Lemkin in 1944 in his book Axis Rule in Occupied Europe. It consists of the Greek prefix genos, meaning race or tribe, and the Latin suffix cide, meaning killing. Lemkin developed the term partly in response to the Nazi policies of systematic murder of Jewish people during the Holocaust, but also in response to previous instances in history of targeted actions aimed at the destruction of particular groups of people.

Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

• Killing members of the group;
• Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
• Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
• Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
• Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Source: United Nations – Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect

Definition: Genocide is an internationally recognized crime where acts are committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.

Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Definition: The result of people of targeted racial groups believing, acting on, or enforcing the dominant (White) system of racial discrimination and oppression. Horizontal racism can occur between members of the same racial group…or between members of different targeted racial groups. (Wijeysinghe, et al, p. 98).

Source: Dr. Kathy Obear – Definitions and Terms

Definition: Individual racism refers to the beliefs, attitudes, and actions of individuals that support or perpetuate racism. Individual racism can be deliberate, or the individual may act to perpetuate or support racism without knowing that is what he or she is doing.

Examples:

• Telling a racist joke, using a racial epithet, or believing in the inherent superiority of whites over other groups.
• Avoiding people of color whom you do not know personally, but not whites whom you do not know personally (e.g., white people crossing the street to avoid a group of Latino/a young people; locking their doors when they see African American families sitting on their doorsteps in a city neighborhood; or not hiring a person of color because “something doesn’t feel right”).
• Accepting things as they are (a form of collusion).

Source: Racial Equity Tools – Flipping the Script: White Privilege and Community Building by Maggie Potapchuk, Sally Leiderman, Donna Bivens, and Barbara Major (2005).

Definition: The individual racism relates to the joint operation of personal stereotypes, prejudices, and discrimination to create and support disparities between members of different groups

Source: Adapted from A Discussion of Individual, Institutional, and Cultural Racism, with Implications for HRD – Chaunda L. Scott – Oakland University

Definition: Policies, laws, practices and rules within political and social institutions (e.g. schools, businesses, the media) that advantage White Americans at the expense of People of Color. (Griffith et al., 2007; Unzueta & Lowery, 2008).

Source: BUSSW Racial & Social Justice Vocabulary List

Definition: This is defined as differential access to the goods, services, and opportunities of society by race.

Source: Dr, Camara Phyllis Jone – How racism makes people sick: A conversation with Camara Phyllis Jones, MD, MPH, PhD

Definition: Institutional racism involves the differential effects of policies, practices, and laws on members of certain racial
groups and on the groups as a whole. Institutional racism can develop from intentional racism (e.g.,. limiting immigration on the basis of assumptions about the interiority of other groups), motivations to provide resources to one’s own group (e.g., attempts to limit another group’s voting power), or as a by-product of policies with one explicit goal but with unintended systematic race-based policies, which typically are associated with ideologies developed to justify them. Historically, for example, Caucasian Americans developed racial ideologies that helped to justify the laws that enabled them to achieve two important types of economic exploitation: slavery and the seizure of lands from native tribes (Klinker & Smith, 1999).

Source: Adapted from A Discussion of Individual, Institutional, and Cultural Racism, with Implications for HRD – Chaunda L. Scott – Oakland University

Definition: This type of racism comprises our private beliefs and biases about race and racism, influenced by our culture. This can take many different forms including: prejudice towards others of a different race; internalized oppression—the negative beliefs about oneself by people of color; or internalized privilege—beliefs about superiority or entitlement by white people.

Source: Race Forward Model

Definition: Internalized racism is 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. It involves four essential and interconnected elements:

• Decision-making – Due to racism, people of color do not have the ultimate decision-making power over the decisions that control our lives and resources.
• Resources – Resources, broadly defined (e.g. money, time, etc), 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 our own communities and to control the resources of our community.
• Standards – With internalized racism, the standards for what is appropriate or “normal” that people of color accept are white people’s or Eurocentric standards. We have difficulty naming, communicating and living up to our deepest standards and values, and holding ourselves 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.

Source: Adapted from Racial Equity Tools – Donna Bivens, Internalized Racism: A Definition (Women’s Theological Center, 1995).

Definition: Internalized racism describes the private racial beliefs held by and within individuals. The way we absorb social messages about race and adopt them as personal beliefs, biases and prejudices are all within the realm of internalized racism.

For people of color, internalized oppression can involve believing in negative messages about oneself or one’s racial group. For white people, internalized privilege can involve feeling a sense of superiority and entitlement, or holding negative beliefs about people of color.

Source: The Annie E. Casey Foundation

Definition: The expression of racism between individuals. These are interactions occurring between individuals that often take place in the form of harassing, racial slurs, or telling of racial jokes. Interpersonal racism also includes doing nothing and/or being silent when harassing, racial slurs, or telling of racial jokes occur.

Source: Adapted from Race Forward

Definition: Interpersonal racism is how our private beliefs about race become public when we interact with others. When we act upon our prejudices or unconscious bias — whether intentionally, visibly, verbally or not — we engage in interpersonal racism. Interpersonal racism also can be willful and overt, taking the form of bigotry, hate speech or racial violence.

Source: The Annie E. Casey Foundation

Definition: Mass incarceration is a term for the extremely high rate of incarceration in the United States for both adults and youth. It refers to the large number of Americans who are at higher risk of being, who are currently, and who have been, incarcerated in jail, prison or subject to a court-ordered probation. Mass incarceration, specifically due to the war on drugs, has been a sly, but intentional attack on black and brown communities. The intense crackdown on drug-related crimes has disproportionately targeted millions of people of color and led to the increasing rate of mass incarceration.

Source: Move for Hunger.org – Mass Incarceration: The cause and Effect on Hunger

Definition: The U.S. incarcerates more people than any other nation in the world. The U.S. prison population increased 500 percent in the past 40 years. Crime rates haven’t increased proportionately in that same time. Instead, the dramatic increase in prison populations can be directly tied to law and policy changes that are directly tied to the oversized role of race and racism in America.

Despite similar rates of drug use across different races and ethnicities, people of color make up nearly 60 percent of people incarcerated for drug offenses. The effects of this discrimination devastates minority communities, separating families and leading to generational incarceration.

Source: Adapted from Fair Fight Initiative

Definition: The term “model minority” has often been used to refer to a minority group perceived as particularly successful, especially in a manner that contrasts with other minority groups. The term could, by its definition and logic, be applied to any number of groups defined by any number of criteria, but it is perhaps most commonly used to frame discussions of race. In particular, the model minority designation is often applied to Asian Americans, who, as a group, are often praised for apparent success across academic, economic, and cultural domains—successes typically offered in contrast to the perceived achievements of other racial groups.

Source: Center of the Legal Profession – Harvard Law School

Definition: A term created by sociologist William Peterson to describe the Japanese community, whom he saw as being able to overcome oppression because of their cultural values.

While individuals employing the Model Minority trope may think they are being complimentary, in fact the term is related to colorism and its root, anti-Blackness. The model minority myth creates an understanding of ethnic groups, including Asian Americans, as a monolith, or as a mass whose parts cannot be distinguished from each other. The model minority myth can be understood as a tool that white supremacy uses to pit people of color against each other in order to protect its status.

Source: Asian American Activism: The Continuing Struggle – Glossary

Definition: The creation and proactive reinforcement of policies, practices, attitudes, and actions that produce equitable power, access, opportunities, treatment and outcomes for all people (including health outcomes), regardless of race.

Source: Adapted from Race Forward and the Boston Public Health Commission

Definition: Racial justice is the systematic fair treatment of people of all races, resulting in equitable opportunities and outcomes for all. Racial justice — or racial equity — goes beyond “anti-racism.” It is not just the absence of discrimination and inequities, but also the presence of deliberate systems and supports to achieve and sustain racial equity through proactive and preventative measures.

Source: National Education Association – Racial Justice in Education

Definition: Racial justice is the systematic fair treatment of people of all races that results in equitable opportunities and outcomes for everyone. All people are able to achieve their full potential in life, regardless of race, ethnicity or the community in which they live. A “racial justice” framework can move us from a reactive posture to a more powerful, proactive and even preventive approach.

Source: The Annie E. Casey Foundation – Equity vs. Equality and Other Racial Justice Definitions

Definition: Racism is a system of structuring opportunity and assigning value based on the social interpretation of how one looks (which is what we call “race”), that unfairly disadvantages some individuals and communities, unfairly advantages other individuals and communities, and saps the strength of the whole society through the waste of human resources.

Source: Dr, Camara Phyllis Jone – How racism makes people sick: A conversation with Camara Phyllis Jones, MD, MPH, PhD

Definition: Racism is a word that is widely used and yet often carries many different meanings depending on who is using it. Racism, also referred to as white supremacy, as the pervasive, deep-rooted, and longstanding exploitation, control and violence directed at People of Color, Native Americans, and Immigrants of Color that produce the benefits and entitlements that accrue to white people, particularly to a white male dominated ruling class.

Source: Showing up for Racial Justice – Political Education

Definition: Racism is ordinary, the “normal” way that society does business, the “common, everyday” experience of most BIPOC communities and people in this country.

Racism serves the interests of both white people in power (the elites) materially and working class white people psychically, and therefore neither group has much incentive to fight it.

Source: Dismantling Racism.org – Racism Defined

Definition: One who is supporting a racist policy through their actions or interaction or expressing a racist idea.

Source: How To Be An Antiracist, Adapted from Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, Random House, 2019

Definition: Someone who holds the belief that race is a fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial Describes a person, behavior, or incident that perpetuates racism.

Source: National Education Association – Racial Justice in Education: Key Terms and Definitions

Definition: A racist policy is any measure that produces or sustains racial inequity between or among racial groups. Policies are written and unwritten laws, rules, procedures, processes, regulations, and guidelines that govern people. There is no such thing as a nonracist or race-neutral policy. Every policy in every institution in every community in every nation is producing or sustaining either racial inequity or equity between racial groups. Racist policies are also expressed through other terms such as “structural racism” or “systemic racism”. Racism itself is institutional, structural, and systemic.

Source: Ibram X. Kendi, How To Be An Antiracist, Random House, 2019.

Definition: A concept based on a misunderstanding of what racism is, often used to accuse and attack efforts made to rectify systemic injustices. Every individual can be prejudiced and biased at one time or another about various people and behaviors, but racism is based on power and systematic oppression. Individual prejudice and systemic racism cannot be equated. Even though some people of color hold powerful positions, white people overwhelmingly hold the most systemic power. The concept of “reverse racism” ignores structural racism, which permeates all dimensions of our society, routinely advantaging white people and disadvantaging people of color. It is deeply entrenched and in no danger of being dismantled or “reversed” any time soon.

Source: National Education Association – Racial Justice in Education: Key Terms and Definitions

Definition: Reverse racism is often called out whenever a white person feels discriminated against because of their race. The problem with this notion is that it focuses purely on racism as an interpersonal construct, rather than a systemic problem. In other words, when a white person feels they are experiencing reverse racism, they are probably facing prejudice (as opposed to systemic discrimination) if anything at all.

In a nutshell, it could be said that racism = power + prejudice.
And reverse racism = prejudice – power. Or even just “perceived prejudice;” a manifestation of white fragility

Source: The Anti-Racist Educator

Definition: The normalization and legitimization of an array of dynamics – historical, cultural, institutional, and interpersonal – that routinely advantage Whites while producing cumulative and chronic adverse outcomes for people of color. Structural racism encompasses the entire system of White domination, diffused and infused in all aspects of society including its history, culture, politics, economics, and entire social fabric. Structural racism is more difficult to locate in a particular institution because it involves the reinforcing effects of multiple institutions and cultural norms, past and present, continually reproducing old and producing new forms of racism. Structural racism is the most profound and pervasive form of racism – all other forms of racism emerge from structural racism.

Source: Racial Equity Tools – Chronic Disparity: Strong and Pervasive Evidence of Racial Inequalities by Keith Lawrence, Aspen Institute on Community Change, and Terry Keleher, Applied Research Center, for the Race and Public Policy Conference (2004).

Definition: The multi-level, long-standing, pervasive influence of racism within U.S. institutions, policies, culture, and social structures that creates a hierarchy in our society based on race that is pernicious, deep-rooted, and more harmful and more difficult to eradicate than individual acts of racism. (Bonilla-Silva, 2005; Calmore, 1997; Gee, 2011)

Source: BUSSW Racial & Social Justice Vocabulary List

Definition: Derived from the Greek word “xenos,” meaning stranger or foreigner, Xenophobia is the fear or hatred of those who are perceived as foreigners, manifested by suspicion of their activities, a desire to eliminate their presence, or seen as a threat to their national, ethnic or racial identity. Both xenophobia and racism often overlap, but the former is most likely associated with people outside of the country or community, while racism is associated most often with inferiority associated with physical characteristics or biological inferiority.

Source: Harvard Diversity, Equity, Access, Inclusion & Belonging

Definition: Any attitude, behavior, practice, or policy that explicitly or implicitly reflects the belief that immigrants are inferior to the dominant group of people. Xenophobia is reflected in interpersonal, institutional, and systemic levels of oppression and is a function of White supremacy.

Source: Center for the Study of Social Policy – Key Equity Terms and Concepts: A glossary for Shared Understanding