Racism
Prejudice + power. Racism is often understood as an individual state of being, as in someone is or isn’t racist. Racism, however, is not merely a personal attitude, it is a racialized system of power maintained by violence. In North America, an individual can be perpetuating this system without even being conscious of their actions
(Source: Simmons College Anti-Oppression Guide: http://simmons.libguides.com/anti-oppression)
Anti-Racism
Antiracist action seeks to dismantle institutionalized practices of racism. It also identifies and confronts racist ideologies which manifest overtly and covertly in institutions, conversations, curriculum, and organizational structures.
(Source: TriCollege Libraries Allyship and Anti-Oppression: A Resource Guide: https://guides.tricolib.brynmawr.edu/c.php?g=285382&p=1900870)
Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a civil rights movement and activist network that originated from a hashtag campaign on social media in 2013. The #BlackLivesMatter campaign gained momentum online in the wake of a jury finding George Zimmerman not guilty of the second-degree murder of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed African American high school student whom Zimmerman shot and killed. Zimmerman claimed self-defense, but many people saw the jury's dismissal of the charges as racially biased. As a social movement, BLM has focused largely on a lack of accountability for violence committed against African Americans, particularly police violence.
(Source: Gale in Context: https://link.gale.com/apps/portal/DXYGQH217653200/OVIC?u=mlin_b_suffuniv&sid=OVIC&xid=6005a746)
Racial Profiling
Racial profiling is the practice of suspecting someone of acting with criminal or fraudulent intent based on stereotypes, assumptions, or myths about their real or perceived race, ethnicity, nationality, or religion. In the United States, racial profiling disproportionately targets people of color and has been linked to mistrust of law enforcement among black and brown communities. Most commonly used to reference undue targeting by law enforcement, racial profiling can also describe punitive or discriminatory actions based on racialized stereotypes taken by employers, educators, retail personnel, and others in positions of authority.
(Source: Gale in Context: https://link.gale.com/apps/portal/UCAJGL499910661/OVIC?u=mlin_b_suffuniv&sid=OVIC&xid=86087bcc)
White Privilege
"One of the primary privileges is having greater influence, power, and resources. White people make decisions that affect everyone without consulting anyone else. As white people we keep ourselves central, thereby silencing others. We can include or exclude others at our whim. If we look at race in North America as only a Black– white construct, we miss the true purpose of the system. We must be aware of how the power-holders oppressed all people of color place to achieve their objective to shape the country as they wanted it. Racism is one of several systems of oppression. Others are class prejudice, sexism, heterosexism, the institutionalized primacy of Christianity, able-bodiedism, and weight policing. These systems work together toward a common goal: to maintain power and control in the hands of wealthy, white, heterosexual, Christian, able-bodied men."
(Source: Kendall, Frances. Understanding White Privilege : Creating Pathways to Authentic Relationships Across Race, Taylor & Francis Group, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/suffolk/detail.action?docID=1101326)
Oppression
Oppression works at both the institutional and individual level.
Ways oppression works:
1. Institutionalized or structural oppression works systemically to oppress some groups of people, whether through inequality in the law, access to economic or educational opportunity,
2. Interpersonal or individual oppression occurs between people. Oppression may be overt or covert.
3. Internalized oppression is the unconscious feeling like one doesn't belong. This helps to perpetuates a cycle of oppression.
(Source: Green River College: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Culturally Responsive Education: Oppression & Microaggressions Guide)
Microaggression
Racial Microaggressions are commonplace verbal or behavioral indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative slights and insults in relation to race. They are structurally based and invoke oppressive systems of racial hierarchy. Racial Microinvalidations, Microinsults, Microassaults are specific types of microaggressions.
Note: The prefix “micro” is used because these are invocations of racial hierarchy at the individual level (person to person), where as the "macro" level refers to aggressions committed by structures as a whole (e.g. an organizational policy). "Micro" in no way minimalizes or otherwise evaluates the impact or seriousness of the aggressions.
(Source: Simmons College Anti-Oppression Guide: http://simmons.libguides.com/anti-oppression)
Implicit Bias
"Implicit bias is a mental process that stimulates negative attitudes about people who are not members of one’s own “in group.” Implicit racial bias leads to discrimination against people who are not members of one’s own racial group. In his book, The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation, Professor Drew Westen tells us that “Irrespective of what we may feel and believe consciously, most White Americans—including many who hold consciously progressive values and attitudes—harbor negative associations toward people of color.” Implicit bias affects the way that we think about “out groups” and it influences the way that we react to and interact with out group members. Implicit bias operates in what researchers call our “implicit mind,” the part of the brain that we commonly call the “subconscious” or the “unconscious.” This means that implicit bias can operate in an individual’s mind without a conscious awareness of this process. Westen suggests that, typically, our subconscious attitudes are less egalitarian than our conscious attitudes."
(Source: The Kirwan Institute at Ohio State University)
Colorblindness
Colorblindness is the racial ideology that posits the best way to end discrimination is by treating individuals as equally as possible, without regard to race, culture, or ethnicity. This not only amounts to a dismissal of the lived experiences of people of color, but also suggests that racism does not exist so long as one ignores it.
I don't see color. I just see people.
We're all just people.
I don't care if you're black, white, green, or purple-polka-dotted!
#AllLivesMatter
At face value, colorblindness seems like a good thing — actually living up to Dr. King's ideal of judging people on the content of their character rather than the color of their skin. However, colorblindness alone is not sufficient to combat racism or heal racial wounds on a national or personal level. It is only a half-measure that, in the end, operates as a form of racism.
(Source: PsychologyToday.com)
Ally
An ally is anyone from a dominant or majority group that is working towards ending oppression by supporting and advocating for those in marginalized and oppressed groups. Becoming an ally is a process and it isn't always easy or comfortable. It requires one to recognize the power and privilege that being part of the dominant cultural affords them.
(Source: Anti-Racism and Social Justice, from Ally to Accomplice, University of Pittsburgh: https://pitt.libguides.com/antiracism/ally)
Accomplice
All accomplices are allies, but not all allies are accomplices. While an ally is willing to stand in support of a marginalized voice, risk is rarely involved. An accomplice uses the power and privilege they have to challenge the status quo, often risking their physical and social well being in the process.
(Source: Anti-Racism and Social Justice, from Ally to Accomplice, University of Pittsburgh: https://pitt.libguides.com/antiracism/ally)