Diversity and Inclusivity Digital Toolkit

Asylee: An asylee is a person who meets the definition of refugee and is already present in the United States or is seeking admission at a port of entry. Refugees are required to apply for Lawful Permanent Resident (“green card”) status one year after being admitted, and asylees may apply for green card status one year after their grant of asylum. (Source: Refugees and Asylees | Homeland Security)

Dominant Culture: Refers to organizational culture that is heavily influenced by the leadership, management, and organizational development as defined by white men and women. (Source: Equity In The Center)

Ethnicity: 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 Glossary)

Gender Binarism: The systematic belief that people need to conform to their gender assigned at birth in a gender-binary system that includes only female and male. (Source: The Breakdown: Exploring Transphobia And Genderism)

Gender Identity: A person’s deeply held core sense of self in relation to gender. Gender identity does not always correspond to biological sex. People become aware of their gender identity at many different stages of life, from as early as 18 months and into adulthood. Gender identity is a separate concept from sexuality and gender expression.  (Source: The Breakdown: Exploring Transphobia And Genderism) 

Identity: The various characteristics we use to categorize and define ourselves and the various characteristics that are constructed by those around us. Sometimes people only think of identity as those visible characteristics of a person, but sometimes our identity characteristics are invisible. Identity characteristics list include but are not limited to gender, ethnicity, race, religion, socioeconomic status, language, marital/relationship status, parent or childless, family size and composition, sexual orientation, education, and career. (Source: Social Justice Standards | Unpacking Identity)

Implicit Bias: Implicit bias refers to the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner. These biases, which encompass both favorable and unfavorable assessments, are activated involuntarily and without an individual’s awareness or intentional control. Residing deep in the subconscious, these biases are different from known biases that individuals may choose to intentionally conceal. (Source: UO Libraries) 

Immigrant: Any person lawfully in the United States who is not a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or person admitted under a nonimmigrant category as defined by the INA Section 101(a)(15).  (Source: Reporting Terminology and Definitions | Homeland Security)

Indigeneity: Indigenous populations are composed of the existing descendants of the peoples who inhabited the present territory of a country wholly or partially at the time when persons of a different culture or ethnic origin arrived there from other parts of the world, overcame them and, by conquest, settlement, or other means, reduced them to a non-dominant or colonial condition; who today live more in conformity with their particular social, economic, and cultural customs and traditions than with the institutions of the country of which they now form part, under a State structure which incorporates mainly national, social, and cultural characteristics of other segments of the population which are predominant. (Source: Racial Equity Tools Glossary)

Institutional Racism: How institutional policies and practices create different outcomes for different racial groups. The institutional policies may never mention any racial group, but their effect is to create advantages for whites and oppression and disadvantage for people from groups classified as people of color. (Source: Understanding Racial Terms and Differences | Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion)

Intersectionality: Intersectionality is a term coined by Professor Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw to describe the specific manifestations of marginalization, disempowerment, and disenfranchisement experienced by people of color when racism combines with other forms of oppression (sexism, heterosexism, classism, xenophobia, etc.). For example, Black girls are suspended at six times the rate of White girls because of the combined impacts of racism and sexism. Says Dr. Crenshaw: “Intersectionality is a metaphor for understanding the ways multiple forms of inequality and oppression compound themselves and create obstacles that often are not understood within conventional ways of thinking about anti-racism, or feminism, or whatever social justice advocacy structures we have.” 

LGBTQIA+: An acronym that collectively refers to individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual individuals collectively; sometimes stated as LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) or, historically, GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender). The addition of the Q for queer, I for intersex, and A for asexual is a more recently preferred version of the acronym. The Q can also stand for questioning, referring to those who are still exploring their own sexuality and/or gender. The “+” represents those who are part of the community but for whom LGBTQIA does not accurately capture or reflect their identity. (Source: Racial Equity Tools Glossary)

Liberation: To free (a group or individual) from social or economic constraints or discrimination, especially arising from traditional role expectations, bias, and all forms of discrimination. Furthermore, liberation is the creation of relationships, societies, communities, organizations, and collective spaces characterized by equity, fairness, and the implementation of systems for the allocation of goods, services, benefits, and rewards that support the full participation of each human and the promotion of their full humanness. (Source: Racial Equity Tools Glossary)

Macroaggression: A macroaggression is overt racism, as “gross, dramatic, obvious” manifestations of racism. (Source: Microaggressions and Modern Racism)

Marginalization: Social process by which individuals or groups are (intentionally or unintentionally) distanced from access to power and resources and constructed as insignificant, peripheral, or less valuable/privileged to a community or “mainstream” society. (Source: Racial Equity Tools Glossary)

Microaggressions: 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. In many cases, these hidden messages may invalidate the group identity or experiential reality of target persons, demean them on a personal or group level, communicate they are lesser human beings, suggest they do not belong with the majority group, threaten, and intimidate, or relegate them to inferior status and treatment. (Source: Derald Wing Sue)

Multicultural Competency: Process of learning about and becoming allies with people from other cultures, broadening our own understanding and ability to participate in a multicultural process. (Source: Racial Equity Tools Glossary)

Nonbinary: Refers to people who do not subscribe to the gender binary. They might exist between or beyond the man-woman binary. Some use the term exclusively, while others may use it interchangeably with terms like genderqueer, genderfluid, gender nonconforming, gender diverse, or gender expansive. (Source: Racial Equity Tools Glossary)

Oppression: The systematic subjugation of one social group by a more powerful social group for the social, economic, and political benefit of the more powerful social group. (Source: Racial Equity Tools Glossary)

Power: Power can be understood as the ability to influence others and impose one's beliefs. All power is relational, and the different relationships either reinforce or disrupt one another. Power is unequally distributed globally, and within U.S. society; some individuals or groups wield greater power than others, thereby allowing them greater access and control over resources. Wealth, whiteness, citizenship, patriarchy, heterosexism, and education are a few key social mechanisms through which power operates. (Source: Understanding Racial Terms and Differences | Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion)

Prejudice: A pre-judgment or unjustifiable, and usually negative, attitude of one type of individual or group toward another group and its members. Such negative attitudes are typically based on unsupported generalizations (or stereotypes) that deny the right of individual members of certain groups to be recognized and treated as individuals with individual characteristics. (Source: Understanding Racial Terms and Differences | Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion)

Privilege: 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 they are taught not to see it, but nevertheless it puts them at an advantage over those who do not have it. (Source: Racial Equity Tools Glossary)

Race: Race is a social and political construct created to categorize individuals based on physical characteristics (including, but not limited to, skin color, hair texture, eye color, and bone structures). This categorization was created to give power and access to White people, while simultaneously disempowering and denying access and power to People of Color. Race is not biological and has changed over time. (Source: Multiple Sources)

Racism: A system of social structures that provides access, safety, resources, and power to White people and denies access, safety, resources and power to people of color. Racism is “a system of advantage based on race” in which the White race has power, privilege, and access over People of Color. This system is reflected in cultural beliefs and messages, institutional policies and practices, and individual conscious or unconscious beliefs and actions. Racism is the fabric of our culture and is embedded in all the social institutions, structures, and systems in our society. The system of racism is favorable to White people while oppressing and disadvantaging People of Color. Racism is different that racial prejudice and racial discrimination. Racial Prejudice + Systemic Power = Racism (Source: Multiple Sources) 

Refugee: Status granted to an individual, prior to departure for and arrival in the United States, who has been determined by competent authority to be fleeing persecution or have a well-founded fear of persecution in their own country because of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion. (Source: Reporting Terminology and Definitions | Homeland Security) A refugee is a person outside his or her country of nationality who is unable or unwilling to return to his or her country of nationality because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. (Source: Refugees and Asylees | Homeland Security)

Socialization: Cultural socialization refers to the process through which youth learn about a culture and develop a sense of belonging to the cultural group (Umaña-Taylor & Fine, 2004). It is an important socialization process that prepares youth for a racially/ethnically diverse and conscious society (Hughes, et al., 2006).  (Source: The Cultural Socialization Scale: Assessing Family and Peer Socialization toward Heritage and Mainstream Cultures - PMC). 

Structural Racism: 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. (Source: Racial Equity Tools Glossary)

Systemic Racism (Structural + Institutional Racism): Policies and practices entrenched in established institutions, which result in the exclusion or promotion of designated groups. It differs from overt discrimination in that no individual intent is necessary. Inequalities rooted in the system-wide operation of a society that excludes substantial numbers of members of particular groups from significant participation in major social institutions. (Source: Understanding Racial Terms and Differences | Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion)

Tokenism: Covert racism; gives those in power the appearance of being non-racist and even champions of diversity because they recruit and use people of color (POC) as racialized props. (Source: Racial Equity Tools Glossary)

Transgender: Often shortened to trans. A term describing a person’s gender identity that does not necessarily match their assigned sex at birth. Transgender people may or may not decide to alter their bodies hormonally and/or surgically to match their gender identity. This word is also used as an umbrella term to describe groups of people who transcend conventional expectations of gender identity or expression—such groups include, but are not limited to, people who identify as transsexual, genderqueer, gender variant, gender diverse, and androgynous. “Trans” is often considered more inclusive than transgender because it includes transgender, transsexual, transmasculine, transfeminine, and those who simply use the word trans. (Source: Racial Equity Tools Glossary)

Xenophobia: 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: Racial Equity Tools Glossary)