Key Terms

Prejudiced thoughts and discriminatory actions based on differences in physical, mental, and/ or emotional ability; usually that of able‐bodied/ minded persons against people with illness, disabilities, or less developed skills/ talents. (source)

A body of people who are members of a particular social group or share a certain social identity. This can be a group formed around a shared identity, trait, ideology, interest or common goal, to which individuals formally or informally belong. (source)

1) 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.

2) Allies commit to reducing their own complicity or collusion in oppression of those groups and invest in strengthening their own knowledge and awareness of oppression. (source)

Anti-bias work envisions a world in which all children are enabled to develop and blossom to their fullest. More, each child’s particular abilities and gifts are able to flourish. In such a world, All children and families have:

*a sense of belonging and experience affirmation of their identities and cultural ways of being;

*access to and participate in the education they need to become successful, contributing members of society.

*engagement with joyful learning experiences.

*the resources they need to fully nurture their children.

*access to safe, peaceful, healthy, comfortable housing and neighborhoods

Children and adults know how to respectfully and easily live, learn, and work together in diverse and inclusive environments. All families. (source: Education for Liberation Equity strand)

The Council for Democratizing Education defines anti-Blackness as being a twopart formation that both voids Blackness of value, while systematically marginalizing Black people and their issues. 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 anti-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)

The strategies, theories, actions and practices that actively challenge systems of oppression on an ongoing basis in one's daily life and in social justice/change work. Anti-oppression work seeks to recognize the oppression that exists in our society and attempts to mitigate its effects and eventually equalize the power imbalance in our communities. (source)

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)

An anti-racist is someone who is supporting an antiracist policy through their actions or expressing antiracist ideas. This includes the expression or ideas that racial groups are equals and none needs developing, and is supporting policy that reduces racial inequity. (source)

The fear or hatred of Jews, Judaism, and related symbols. (source)

An acronym standing for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.

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 Tometi—created a Blackcentered political will and movement building project called #BlackLivesMatter. It was 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 folks’ humanity, our contributions to this society, and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression.” (source)

Prejudiced thoughts and discriminatory actions based on difference in socio‐economic status, income, class; usually by upper classes against lower. (source)

A term used to describe a disregard of racial characteristics or lack of influence 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)

A theory developed by Dr. Tara Yosso, Community Cultural Wealth refers to the capital that accompanies the experience of historical minorities in contrast to default conversations about cultural capital and privilege. Yosso notes the following types of capital as creating experiential wealth for students of color: familial, aspirational, linguistic, social, navigational, and resistant. (source)

Critical Whiteness Studies (CWS) is a growing field of scholarship whose aim is to reveal the invisible structures that produce and reproduce white supremacy and privilege. CWS presumes a certain conception of racism that is connected to white supremacy. In advancing the importance of vigilance among white people, CWS examines the meaning of white privilege and white privilege pedagogy, as well as how white privilege is connected to complicity in racism. (source)

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 (i.e. white) culture’s right to take other cultural elements. (source)

Culturally Responsive Teaching is a pedagogy that recognizes the importance of including students' cultural references in all aspects of learning (Gay, 2000). Other related terms are Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1994) and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (Paris, 2012).

Some of the characteristics of culturally responsive teaching are:

*Positive perspectives on parents and families
*Communication of high expectations
*Learning within the context of culture
*Student-centered instruction
*Culturally mediated instruction
*Reshaping the curriculum
*Teacher as facilitator

(source)

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. (source)

Deficit theories go beyond defining students by their weaknesses, ascribing the barriers to their success to their own moral and/ or intellectual deficiencies. This serves tot justify systems that privilege dominant groups over oppressed groups.

Paul Gorski notes, "Deficit theorists use two strategies for propagating this world view: (1) drawing on well-established stereotypes, and (2) ignoring systemic conditions, such as inequitable access to high-quality schooling, that support the cycle of poverty." (source)

A person with a disability has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activity. This includes people who have a record of such an impairment, even if they do not currently have a disability. It also includes individuals who do not have a disability but are regarded as having a disability. (source)

1) The unequal treatment of members of various groups based on race, gender, social class, sexual orientation, physical ability, religion and other categories.

2) [In the United States] the law makes it illegal to discriminate against someone on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex. The law also makes it illegal to retaliate against a person because the person complained about discrimination, filed a charge of discrimination, or participated in an employment discrimination investigation or lawsuit. The law also requires that employers reasonably accommodate applicants' and employees' sincerely held religious practices, unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on the operation of the employer's business. (source)

1. Diversity includes 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 all-inclusive 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. It also involves different ideas, perspectives, and values.

2. It is important to note that many activists and thinkers critique diversity alone as a strategy. For instance, Baltimore Racial Justice Action states: “Diversity is silent on the subject of equity. In an anti-oppression context, therefore, the issue is not diversity, but rather equity. Often when people talk about diversity, they are thinking only of the “non-dominant” groups.” (source)

Education for Liberation, following the African-American tradition, is based in the understanding  that there has always been a link between education and citizenship. It involves rewriting distortions in scholarship, textbooks, and what is being taught in classrooms. Education for Liberation seeks to develop critical cultural consciousness, content integration, prejudice reduction, and equitable pedagogy. It is an endeavor to link knowledge production to the work of democracy and social justice.

Education for Liberation takes into account the movements to resist violent practices of education and simultaneously (re)inscribe practices that humanize our Black teachers and students (Burrowes, et. al., 2014; Hill, 2009; Johnson, et. al., 2017; Kilgore, 2011; King, 2017; Stemn, 2010). (source: Education for Liberation, Equity strand)

Educational equity means that every student gets what they need to succeed. This necessitates removing barriers to success and allowing access to the educational process by parents, students, educators, etc. It begins with acknowledging the humanity of each student and family member in order for them to be incorporated into the student's social, emotional, and intellectual development. (source: Education for Liberation, Equity strand)

The cultural characteristics that connect a particular group or groups of people to each other. "Ethnicity" is sometimes used as a euphemism for "race", or as a synonym for minority group. While ethnicity and race are related concepts, the concept of ethnicity is rooted in the idea of societal groups, particularly marked by shared nationality, tribal affiliation, religious faith, shared language, or cultural and traditional origins and backgrounds. Race is rooted in the idea of biological classification of homo sapiens to subspecies according to feature such as skin color or facial characteristics. (source)

A socially constructed system of classification that ascribes qualities of masculinity and femininity to people. Gender characteristics can and do change over time. They are also different between cultures. (source)

Refers to the systemic or individual treatment of a group or person differently, most often with negative consequences, due to their perceived or claimed gender identity. (source: Education for Liberation Equity strand)

An individual’s internal sense of their own gender, whether they identify with the gender they were assigned at birth, another gender or no gender. (source)

Prejudice or unsupported judgments in favor of or against one thing, person, or group as compared to another, in a way that is usually considered unfair. Many researchers suggest that unconscious bias occurs automatically as the brain makes quick judgments based on past experiences and background. As a result of unconscious biases, certain people benefit and other people are penalized. In contrast, deliberate prejudices are defined as conscious bias (or explicit bias). Although we all have biases, many unconscious biases tend to be exhibited toward minority groups based on factors such as class, gender, race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, age, able-bodiedness, and other such traits. (source)

1. Exposing [one’s] multiple identities can help clarify they ways in which a person can simultaneously experience privilege and oppression. 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 produce a qualitatively distinct life.

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

The gender-neutral alternative to Latino, Latina and even Latin@. Used by scholars, activists and an increasing number of journalists, Latinx is quickly gaining popularity among the general public. It’s part of a “linguistic revolution” that aims to move beyond gender binaries and is inclusive of the intersecting identities of Latin American descendants. In addition to men and women from all racial backgrounds, Latinx also makes room for people who are transgender, queer, agender, non-binary, gender non-conforming or gender fluid. Despite the growing popularity of the term, Latinx has been faced with criticism. Many opponents of the term have suggested that using an un-gendered noun like Latinx is disrespectful to the Spanish language and some have even called the term “a blatant form of linguistic imperialism.”

While Latinx can still be considered an imperfect general term for people of Latin heritage in countries like the U.S., it doesn't work well in primarily Spanish-speaking countries. This is because the "x" can be hard to pronounce and makes gendered words (e.g., that use 'os', 'as') unconjugatable. To tackle this, some Spanish speakers are substituting "e" instead. For example, "amigos" becomes "amigues," and "Latino" becomes "Latines."' (source)

Ideologies, structures and practices which are used to legitimate, effectuate, regulate and reproduce an unequal division of power and resources (both material and immaterial) between groups which are defined on the basis of language. (from Skutnabb-Kagas, 1988, p. 13)

The everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership. (source)

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., “nonWhite”), 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)

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 we’re taught not to see it, but nevertheless it puts them at an advantage over those who do not have it. (source)

For many people, it comes as a surprise that racial categorization schemes were invented by scientists to support worldviews that viewed some groups of people as superior and some as inferior. There are three important concepts linked to this fact:

Race is a made-up social construct, and not an actual biological fact.
Race designations have changed over time. Some groups that are considered “white” in the United States today were considered “nonwhite” in previous eras, in U.S. Census data and in mass media and popular culture (for example, Irish, Italian and Jewish people).
The way in which racial categorizations are enforced (the shape of racism) has also changed over time. For example, the racial designation of Asian American and Pacific Islander changed four times in the 19th century. That is, they were defined at times as white and at other times as not white. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, as designated groups, have been used by whites at different times in history to compete with African American labor. (source)

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. (source)

Racism = race prejudice + social and institutional power

Racism = a system of advantage based on race

Racism = a system of oppression based on race

Racism = a white supremacy system

Racism is different from racial prejudice, hatred, or discrimination. Racism involves one group having the power to carry out systematic discrimination through the institutional policies and practices of the society and by shaping the cultural beliefs and values that support those racist policies and practices. (source)

Restorative Justice is a theory of justice that emphasizes repairing the harm caused by crime and conflict. It places decisions in the hands of those who have been most affected by a wrongdoing, and gives equal concern to the victim, the offender, and the surrounding community. Restorative responses are meant to repair harm, heal broken relationships, and address the underlying reasons for the offense. Restorative Justice emphasizes individual and collective accountability. Crime and conflict generate opportunities to build community and increase grassroots power when restorative practices are employed. (source)

According to author Robin DiAngelo: “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” (30-31) (source)

1) Refers to the unquestioned and unearned set of advantages, entitlements, benefits and choices bestowed on people solely because they are white. Generally white people who experience such privilege do so without being conscious of it.

2) Structural White Privilege: A system of white domination that creates and maintains belief systems that make current racial advantages and disadvantages seem normal. The system includes powerful incentives for maintaining white privilege and its consequences, and powerful negative consequences for trying to interrupt white privilege or reduce its consequences in meaningful ways. The system includes internal and external manifestations at the individual, interpersonal, cultural and institutional levels.

The accumulated and interrelated advantages and disadvantages of white privilege that are reflected in racial/ethnic inequities in life-expectancy and other health outcomes, income and wealth and other outcomes, in part through different access to opportunities and resources. These differences are maintained in part by denying that these advantages and disadvantages exist at the structural, institutional, cultural, interpersonal and individual levels and by refusing to redress them or eliminate the systems, policies, practices, cultural norms and other behaviors and assumptions that maintain them. Interpersonal White Privilege: Behavior between people that consciously or unconsciously reflects white superiority or entitlement. Cultural White Privilege: A set of dominant cultural assumptions about what is good, normal or appropriate that reflects Western European white world views and dismisses or demonizes other world views. Institutional White Privilege: Policies, practices and behaviors of institutions -- such as schools, banks, non-profits or the Supreme Court -- that have the effect of maintaining or increasing accumulated advantages for those groups currently defined as white, and maintaining or increasing disadvantages for those racial or ethnic groups not defined as white. The ability of institutions to survive and thrive even when their policies, practices and behaviors maintain, expand or fail to redress accumulated disadvantages and/or inequitable outcomes for people of color.  (source)

Refers to the norm employed by Whites of seeking comfort in avoiding talking about race, though that behavior upholds the status quo. According to Robin DiAngelo, "When white normative taboos against talking directly about race are broken, especially within the context of deliberately challenging racial inequality, it is uncomfortable and destabilizing for many whites. Seeking to regain our comfort and sense of racial stability is a predictable response. In a racial discussion, white moves that are intended to maintain racial comfort or equilibrium necessarily work to maintain traditional racial relations. In this context, when whites employ silence to maintain a degree of comfort, that silence functions (albeit implicitly) as a means to regain dominance and control." (source)

White supremacy is a historically based, institutionally perpetuated system of exploitation and oppression of continents, nations and peoples of color by White peoples and nations of the European continent; for the purpose of maintaining and defending a system of wealth, power, and privilege. (source)

1. The term white, referring to people, was created by Virginia slave owners and colonial rules in the 17th century. It replaced terms like Christian and Englishman to distinguish European colonists from Africans and indigenous peoples. European colonial powers established whiteness as a legal concept after Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676, during which indentured servants of European and African descent had united against the colonial elite. The legal distinction of white separated the servant class on the basis of skin color and continental origin. The creation of ‘whiteness’ meant giving privileges to some, while denying them to others with the justification of biological and social inferiority.

2. Whiteness itself refers to the specific dimensions of racism that serve to elevate white people over people of color. This definition counters the dominant representation of racism in mainstream education as isolated in discrete behaviors that some individuals may or may not demonstrate, and goes beyond naming specific privileges (McIntosh, 1988). Whites are theorized as actively shaped, affected, defined, and elevated through their racialization and the individual and collective consciousness’ formed with it (Whiteness is thus conceptualized as a constellation of processes and practices rather than as a discrete entity (i.e. skin color alone). Whiteness is dynamic, relational, and operating at all times and my myriad levels. These processes and practices include basic rights, values, beliefs, perspectives and experiences purported to be commonly shared by all, but which are actually only consistently afforded to white people. (source)