11 More DEI Terms to Add to your Vocabulary

In today’s world, a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is critical to the success of businesses, service organizations, and schools. A colorblind, equality-driven approach seemed sufficient in the past, but in 2020, the world is realizing that more education, awareness, and commitment is needed to become the leaders and organizations we want — and need — to be. But this is new to many of us, and it’s hard work.

You might be uneasy about starting conversations before you’ve learned everything yourself, or may feel anxious about using the wrong words and offending someone. Most importantly, you will need everyone who is part of the conversation to have a shared understanding of what you mean when you say certain words. Here are some terms that will help equip you and your team for the critical conversations, and check out our first blog post on this topic for more foundational definitions.

Equity is defined as “the state, quality or ideal of being just, impartial and fair.” When we say “equity,” we are speaking about treating people fairly and justly. While challenging to achieve true equity, it is important to claim it as a value and have the systemic and institutional commitments to back it up. Consider the example of the schoolchildren above — certainly, if every teacher needs to come up with an equitable solution for each student based on their needs, that is challenging, but it is the only way to make sure each child grows from their education in the way they need to.

• Systematic equity can occur when systems and institutions put policies, practices, and values into play that sustain a level of equity and justice.

Racial justice is justice for all people, regardless of their race. This doesn’t mean that it’s simply treating all people equally and “not seeing color” — it is taking the intentional steps to eliminate racism that has plagued some communities and people for centuries. Know that racism negatively affects us all, White people too.

Race is a social construct used to categorize people on the basis of their physical features. Not a scientific concept, race is not something that can be measured or determined from any test or evaluation; rather, it is ascribed to an individual based on their appearance. While race as a construct is not a “real” or scientific mode of categorization, the effects of racial categorization and racism are very real.

• Because we have been conditioned to accept it, we subscribe to an ideology of race that colors how we see this world and its people. Thus, instead of racism being only a personal prejudice, in reality it is made up of a complex web of hierarchies, injustices, and practices of domination and subordination.

Racism

Racial privilege occurs when an individual or group has advantages based on their race, and is treated preferentially because of it. Racial oppression has to do with disadvantages and discrimination, the opposite of privilege.

Internalized racism is racialized beliefs that individuals hold within themselves. Because we are all conditioned to believe in the ideology of race, many people of color have internalized racism that leads to negative feelings about themselves or other people of their race, or other people of color in general. White individuals experience internalized racism manifested as feeling superior to people of color, whether or not they act on those beliefs.

When we do act on those beliefs of internalized racism, we participate in interpersonal racism. Whether intentional or unintentional, acting on prejudices embedded in us is a manifestation of racism. From committing microaggressions all the way to the horrors of racial violence, interpersonal racism is a descriptor for all interactions where there is a racial power imbalance.

Institutional racism occurs when institutions like governments, schools, religious organizations, and companies hold racist practices or policies. Often difficult to see, and even harder to root out, institutional racism creates a system of inequity within an institution based on race, whether explicit or not. For example, consider the redlining practices that were central to providing housing loans and mortgages to white individuals while preventing people of color from purchasing homes, contributing to inequity felt decades later.

Structural racism is the macro level of racism — how it manifests across institutions, between individuals, and seeps into every part of society. Taken all together, structural racism illustrates the inescapable inequity and oppression faced by people of color in a racist society.

Are these definitions different than what you thought these words meant? Have you heard them used differently? How does thinking about diversity and inclusion with these new definitions in mind change how you will approach these issues in your life and work from now on?