DANIEL McCLOUD
Does everything in today’s world revolve around the issue of race? If this is the case, dialogue is the first step in understanding other viewpoints and creating sustainable, positive change. It then stands to reason that when we engage in complex discourse, we must start with a clear understanding of key terms necessary for multi-layered problem-solving. This article includes several key terms that are often used when discussing issues surrounding race. These key terms are as follows:
1. Empathy: Is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. To see the world from another’s perspective and circumstance. This term is most associated with the saying, “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes.”
2. Social Justice: This is a common phrase used to describe the process of eliminating many of the social and economic disparities many people face through the redistribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society.
3. Bias: When a person prefers a particular idea and possibly does not give an equal chance to a different view. It is commonly felt that all people have biases.
4. Implicit Bias: Refers to a person’s unconscious state of bias. These biases and prejudices may be present, and the individual is not aware.
5. Stereotypes: A fixed, overgeneralized belief about a particular group or class of people. There are various types of stereotypes, including racial stereotypes and gender-based stereotypes.
6. Racism: Racism includes any prejudice, discrimination, or hatred directed against individuals or groups based on their membership in a particular racial or ethnic group.
7. Equity: Equity is the provision of resources so that everyone will have equal access to the same things.
8. Equality: Equality is developing an understanding that everyone will benefit from the same things and opportunities.
9. Institutional racism: Institutional racism is racial inequity within institutions and systems of power, including but not limited to places of employment and government agencies. Institutional racism can be found in unfair policies and practices and discrimination.
10. Structural racism: Structural racism is the racial bias across institutions and society that creates disadvantages to people of color.
11. White Supremacy: White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to other races and thus should rule them.
12. Discrimination: This is the unfair or prejudicial treatment of people and groups based on characteristics such as race, gender, age, or sexual orientation.
13. Prejudice: An assumption or an opinion about someone based on that person’s membership in a particular group.
14. Diversity: the practice or quality of including or involving people from different social and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders, sexual orientations, etc.
These are just a few terms that we should all be familiar with as we understand our differences. The lack of knowledge and understanding will always be a significant barrier to social change. To have meaningful conversations around race, we must educate ourselves to make informed opinions and decisions. This level of knowledge is particularly critical for those stakeholders involved in the creation of policy and laws.