Terms to define and style guide

We acknowledge that the language we use matters a great deal: words are how we describe ourselves and construct the world around us. We also understand words mean different things in different contexts and evolve in continuously-changing ways. We know our terminology might function differently in other countries or cultural contexts.

We use the following terms in this how-to guide in a best attempt to reflect our current moment in time, within the context of the communities we expect to be involved in this pledge. We encourage suggestions and recommendations to help keep our terminology current & inclusive.

Cultural equity - “Embodies the values, policies, and practices that ensure that all people are represented in the development of arts policy; the support of artists; the nurturing of accessible, thriving venues for expression; and the fair distribution of programmatic, financial, and informational resources.” - Americans for the Arts, Statement on Cultural Equity

Disinvested/Disinvestment - Literally refers to reducing or withdrawing an investment: often used to describe a neighborhood or a community of people that face inequitable distributions of resources due to the withdrawal or elimination of publicelimination public & private funds. (Contrast to terms such as “communities in need”, which suggest failure or deficits on the part of the community itself)

ALAANA - An acronym for African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, or Native American.

People of Color - First popularized in the 1960’s by Black Civil Rights activists, this term is generally used to refer to anyone who does not identify as White.

BIPOC - This term is an acronym for “Black, Indigenous, and People of Color”. This term originated more recently and names Black and Indigenous people in addition to People of Color, specifically, in an attempt to highlight the particularly concentrated forms of discrimination Black and Indigenous people face.

Latinx - Refers to people of Latin American heritage, and is a gender-neutral or nonbinary alternative to Latino or Latina.

The above terms are all used in this document at various points. For more on the history of these terms, listen to Code Switch: What it means to be a person of color or read “People of Color are protesting…” by Efren Perez in the Washington Post

In general in this document, we:

• Tend to use LGBTQ+ as a term to include a wide variety of queer communities, but support whatever language people use to describe themselves (to read more about this topic—including a long list of terminology and definitions in The Acronym and Beyond by Learning for Justice.)
• We acknowledge that there is controversy over whether to use identity-first or person-first language to describe disability. We offer our support for whichever language someone chooses to use to describe disability as it pertains to them. With this in mind, we tend to use identity-first language when talking broadly about disability, as a reflection of the preference of our current disabled community members. I am Disabled: On Identity-First Versus People-First Language by Cara Leibowitz offers an explanation on the subject of person first vs. identity first language.
• Capitalize both “Black” and “White”. Read "The Case for Capitalizing the B in Black" by Kwame Anthony Appiah in The Athletic, and "Why White Should Be Capitalized" by Nell Irvin Painter in the Washington Post