What follows are brief definitions of key terms or additional information about phrases used in the juvenile justice field in discussions about racial and ethnic fairness. While not exhaustive, these are intended to provide additional information for users of the site.
Antiracism is proactive efforts to root out racism within communities, organizations, and yourself while also advocating for equity, inclusion, and justice.
Bias is a preference in favor of or against, a person, group of people, or thing. These human reactions, which are often unconscious, are often rooted in inaccurate information or reasoning.
Colorism refers to within-group and between-group prejudice in favor of lighter skin color. (Southern Poverty Law Center)
Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) refers to youth of color being involved with the juvenile justice system at disproportionate rates. However, regional and national demographic shifts make it more appropriate to refer to the phenomenon as “racial and ethnic disparities,” without reference to “minorities.”
Emotional Tax is the "cost" of the combination of being on guard to protect against bias because of race, ethnicity, and gender and experiencing the associated effects on well-being and ability to thrive in society, at work, or at school.
Equity is defined as “the state, quality or ideal of being just, impartial and fair. ” The concept of equity is synonymous with fairness and justice. It is helpful to think of equity as not simply a desired state of affairs or a lofty value. To be achieved and sustained, equity needs to be thought of as a structural and systemic concept.
- Equity involves trying to understand and give people what they need to enjoy full, healthy lives. Equality, in contrast, aims to ensure that everyone gets the same things in order to enjoy full, healthy lives. Like equity, equality aims to promote fairness and justice, but it can only work if everyone starts from the same place and needs the same things.
- Systematic equity is a complex combination of interrelated elements consciously designed to create, support and sustain social justice. It is a robust system and dynamic process that reinforces and replicates equitable ideas, power, resources, strategies, conditions, habits, and outcomes. Inclusion is the action or state of including or of being included within a group or structure.
- Systematic equity inclusion, more than simply diversity and numerical representation, involves establishing authentic and empowered participation and a true sense of belonging for all individuals in a business, government, or social system.
Fairness means treating people according to their needs. This does not mean that it should always be equal treatment for different people but that it should be equitable.
Ethnic identity is shaped by both ethnic attribution and ethnic affiliation. It describes the relationship that exists between an individual and a group with whom the individual believes he/she/they has common ancestry based on shared individual characteristics, shared sociocultural experiences, or both. Ethnic affiliation refers to the individual’s own sense of group membership and sharing if characteristics of the group as defined by its members. Ethnic identity is not necessarily genetic.
Ethnicity is a term used to describe identity based upon a presumption of shared social and cultural characteristics, backgrounds, or experiences shared by a group of people. These include language, religion, beliefs, values, and behaviors that are often handed down from one generation to the next. Ethnicity is not necessarily genetic.
Intersectionality is a framework for understanding how social identities (such as gender, race, ethnicity, social class, religion, sexual orientation, ability, and gender identity) overlap with one another and with systems of power that oppress and advantage people in the workplace and broader community. This term was coined by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw.
Microaggressions are “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.” (Derald Wing Sue, Columbia University)
Privilege refers to the benefits and advantages that come to a person solely from being a member of a group. Privilege is often not what you are given, but the hurdles and barriers you don’t have to negotiate or overcome.
Race is a socially constructed system of categorizing humans largely based on observable physical features (phenotypes) such as skin color and ancestry. There is no scientific basis for or discernible distinction between racial categories. The ideology of race has become embedded in our identities, institutions, and culture and is used as a basis for discrimination and domination.
Racial justice is the systematic fair treatment of people of all races that results in equitable opportunities and outcomes for everyone. All people are able to achieve their full potential in life, regardless of race, ethnicity or the community in which they live. Racial justice — or racial equity — goes beyond “anti-racism.” It’s not just about what we are against, but also what we are for. A “racial justice” framework can move us from a reactive posture to a more powerful, proactive and even preventative approach.
Racial oppression refers to race-based disadvantages, discrimination, and exploitation based on skin color.
Racial privilege describes race-based advantages and preferential treatment based on skin color. racial privilege describes race-based advantages and preferential treatment based on skin color, while racial oppression refers to race-based disadvantages, discrimination, and exploitation based on skin color.
Racism is widely thought of as simply personal prejudice, but in fact, it is a complex system of racial hierarchies and inequities. At the micro level of racism, or individual level, are internalized and interpersonal racism. At the macro level of racism, we look beyond the individuals to the broader dynamics, including institutional and structural racism.
- Internalized racism describes the private racial beliefs held by and within individuals. The way we absorb social messages about race and adopt them as personal beliefs, biases, and prejudices are all within the realm of internalized racism. For people of color, internalized oppression can involve believing in negative messages about oneself or one’s racial group. For white people, internalized privilege can involve feeling a sense of superiority and entitlement, or holding negative beliefs about people of color.
- Interpersonal racism is how our private beliefs about race become public when we interact with others. When we act upon our prejudices or unconscious bias — whether intentionally, visibly, verbally, or not — we engage in interpersonal racism. Interpersonal racism also can be willful and overt, taking the form of bigotry, hate speech, or racial violence.
- Institutional racism is racial inequity within institutions and systems of power, such as places of employment, government agencies, and social services. It can take the form of unfair policies and practices, discriminatory treatment, and inequitable opportunities and outcomes. A school system that concentrates people of color in the most overcrowded and under-resourced schools with the least qualified teachers compared to the educational opportunities of white students is an example of institutional racism.
Structural racism (or structural socialization) is the racial bias across institutions and society. It describes the cumulative and compounding effects of an array of factors that systematically privilege white people and disadvantage people of color. Since the word “racism” often is understood as a conscious belief, “racialization” may be a better way to describe a process that does not require intentionality. Race equity expert John a. Powell writes: “ ‘Racialization’ connotes a process rather than a static event. It underscores the fluid and dynamic nature of race … ‘Structural racialization’ is a set of processes that may generate disparities or depress life outcomes without any racist actors.”
Systematic oppression occurs when institutions and society discriminate against specific groups over time and generations.
Systemic socialization describes a dynamic system that produces and replicates racial ideologies, identities, and inequities. Systemic racialization is the well-institutionalized pattern of discrimination that cuts across major political, economic, and social organizations in a society. Public attention to racism is generally focused on the symptoms (such as a racist slur by an individual) rather than the system of racial inequality.
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Additional information is available in a free download from the Annie E. Casey Foundation in their Race Equity and Inclusion Action Guide, "Embracing Racial Equity: 7 Steps to Advance and Embed Race Equity and Inclusion in Your Organization."
The Annie E. Casey Foundation is a supporter of the Center for Sustainable Journalism and JJIE.org.
Racial & Ethnic Fairness Sections
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