Words Matter: - A Guide to Inclusive Language around Racial and

Words Matter:

A Guide to Inclusive Language

around Racial and Ethnic Identity

APRIL 2023

Ofﬁce of Human Rights (OHR)

Mia L. Carey, PhD,

Education and Training Specialist

mia.care[email protected]v

Mayor’s Ofﬁce of Racial Equity (ORE)

Amber A. Hewitt, PhD,

Chief Equity Ofﬁcer

racial[email protected]v

Guide to Inclusive Language: Race andEthnicity | 2

Contents

Letter from the Mayor 3

I. About this Guide 4

II. Racism Expressed through Language 5

A. Covert Discursive Racism 5

i. Racially Biased and Anti-Ethnic Language 5

ii. Racially Coded Language 7

iii. Racial Microaggressions 8

B. Overt Discursive Racism 10

i. Microassaults 10

ii. Exonyms 11

III. Best Practices and General Guidelines for Using Inclusive Language 12

A. Suggested Inclusive Terms when referring to Racial or Ethnic Identiﬁcation 12

B. Suggested Inclusive Terms to Refer to Individuals and Groups 15

IV. Resources 16

A. Read (Articles, Books, Websites, etc.) 16

B. Watch (Movies and Documentaries) 16

C. Listen (Podcasts) 17

References 18

Guide to Inclusive Language: Race andEthnicity | 3

Letter from the Mayor

Greetings:

As we all know, words matter.

What we say to one another can leave a lasting impact on our social and mental wellbeing.

And, sadly, words historically have been used to create division and to allow one group or

person to feel superior to another. That is why we are creating educational tools to help

advise residents and District government employees on the importance of inclusive language

and our strong commitment to advancing equity.

Words Matter: A Guide to Inclusive Language around Racial and Ethnic Identity builds on DC’s

tradition of protecting our residents’, employees’, and visitors’ basic human rights. Since the

1970s, the District of Columbia has been a model human rights city. In 1973, DC passed our

ﬁrst Human Rights Law, after determining that discrimination not only failed to provide equal

opportunity to enjoy a full and productive life, but “menaces the institutions and foundations

of a free democratic society.” Four years later, we enacted the D.C. Human Rights Act (HRA),

which was and remains one of the most comprehensive human rights laws in the United States.

In 2023, we again strive to lead by example by providing education and outreach on inclusive

language. So, I am proud to share this guide, which was developed by the DC Ofﬁce of Human

Rights (OHR) in partnership with the Mayor’s Ofﬁce of Racial Equity (ORE).

As public servants, District government employees must always be thoughtful in

communicating with each other and the public—and using inclusive language is a vital part

of that process. The intentional practice of using inclusive language allows us to talk to—and

about—historically marginalized communities respectfully and in a way that acknowledges

diversity, conveys respect, is sensitive to differences, and promotes equal opportunities.

I hope you ﬁnd this guide insightful and informative in your professional and personal lives.

Thank you to the OHR and ORE teams for their ongoing commitment to creating an inclusive

and equitable DC community.

Sincerely,

Muriel Bowser

Mayor

Guide to Inclusive Language: Race andEthnicity | 4

I. About this Guide

Words Matter.

Language is constantly evolving as it adapts to cultural and social changes. Choosing the

most appropriate term or phrase can be tricky, as there can be a lack of consensus among

scholars, activists, and the public about a term or phrase’s use. But, certain words, whether

used intentionally or unintentionally, can exclude individuals, or leave an individual

feeling like perhaps they are not welcome. Therefore, your conscious decision to use

inclusive language (deﬁned below) can be an important ﬁrst step in creating and sustaining

welcoming, inclusive, and safe environments for all individuals, regardless of their identity.

Additionally, it indicates that you are aware of the potentially marginalizing, insensitive,

offensive, or derogatory nature of certain words and phrases and are trying to stop

perpetuating discrimination, prejudice, and/or other forms of bias.

The D.C. Ofﬁce of Human Rights (OHR) and the Mayor’s Ofﬁce of Racial Equity (ORE) worked

together to publish this guide to serve as an educational resource for District employees and

for the public as they begin to engage more regularly in conversations about race, ethnicity,

and racial and ethnic equity in the workplace and in our communities. Our goal is to raise

awareness, guide learning, and encourage language that centers on inclusion by being

mindful of the voices and experiences of people who have been historically marginalized.

Since this guide is provided for educational purposes only, it should not be construed as

legal advice or as a mandate. Rather, it should be viewed as an invitation to use language

that strives not to harm, demean, offend, or oppress individuals or groups.

While this guide aims to explain the origins of problematic terms and phrases, it is not

intended to encompass all possible terms, deﬁnitions, or uses. Our intention is to introduce

our readers to the meanings that certain words may carry and to suggest that they be

mindful of these associations when communicating.

Guide to Inclusive Language: Race andEthnicity | 5

II. Racism Expressed through Language

Before diving into speciﬁc terms to be conscious of using, we must ﬁrst establish how

words and language can intentionally or unintentionally perpetuate racism. Racism is often

thought of as just the individual acts that are committed by unkind people

, however, racism

is a systemic problem—in other words, it is embedded into our society.

As a result it can

manifest and be communicated in a variety of ways, such as our interactions with others

(interpersonal or interactional racism), through representations in the media and popular

culture (representational racism), and through our policies and laws (institutional racism).

This guide deals with only one of these forms of racism—racism in language, which

is referred to as discursive racism.

It is the form of racism that uses words that are

rooted in stereotypical meaning, and typically includes racially tinged forms of everyday

communication that sustain racism. While some words may appear innocuous, they may be

linked to harmful histories and can negatively impact a person’s psychological well-being.

Part of the reason that discursive racism appears innocuous or racially neutral is that much

of it is not overt or easily identiﬁable like racial epithets or slurs. For this reason, although,

a word or phrase may not be personally offensive to you or seem to be racist, it may be

seen that way to others because of the word or phrase’s connotations or histories. Below we

review covert and overt discursive racism with examples and suggested inclusive alternatives.

A. Covert Discursive Racism

On the surface, less obvious forms of racism may seem to be racially neutral, but by using

them we may be unintentionally or unknowingly aid in perpetuating racial inequities

and furthering harm to audiences who come from the communities the terms or phrases

originally targeted.

i. Racially Biased and Anti-Ethnic Language

Some of the language that we use, even in everyday conversation, has origins that are racially

biased or anti-ethnic, or have connections to racist or anti-ethnic events or actions. This type

of language may contain hidden messages based on outdated social norms and/or historical

oppression. It can be demeaning to coworkers or community members who are aware of the

language’s history or connotations, and it is for this reason that they are most harmful or

may be considered offensive. It is important and can be helpful to learn and understand the

history behind words and phrases. Examples are provided in Table 1.

Guide to Inclusive Language: Race andEthnicity | 6

Table 1: Language with Racist Origins or Connotations

Term: Grandfather Clause

History and/or Origin

How It Is

Used Today Why It Can be Harmful and/or Offensive

Suggested

Inclusive

Alternative

Historically, grandfather clause

referred to a set of voting laws

around 1870-1890 that had the

goal of excluding Black voters

by conditioning the right to

vote based on whether one’s

“grandfather” had voted in the

past. This effectively denied Black

men the right to vote since their

grandfathers had been legally

excluded from the right to vote

prior to the enactment of the 15th

Amendment

Currently, the

term is used to

describe instances

when individuals

or businesses

can continue to

operate under

existing rules or

policies after new

rules are put into

place

Although the terms “grandfathered” and

“grandfather clause” may not be harmful

or offensive to some contemporary Black

communities,, because of the history of

the term and the continued efforts to

suppress voting, it can be associated with

discriminatory practices

• Inherited

• Legacy

• Old rule

• Precedent

Term: “No Can Do” “Long Time No See”

History and/or Origin

How It Is

Used Today Why It Can be Harmful and/or Offensive

Suggested

Inclusive

Alternative

Both phrases are traced to the

19th century practice of mocking

Asian immigrants or Indigenous

people for their pidgin English

These terms are

commonly used

as an informal

greeting by people

who have not seen

each other in a

while

Limited English Speakers (LEP) or Non-

English Speakers (NEP) continue to be

mocked for their use of broken English

and the use of these phrases may

unintentionally be conveyed as mockery

• It has been a

while.

• I can’t do it

Term: Off the Reservation

History and/or Origin

How It Is

Used Today Why It Can be Harmful and/or Offensive

Suggested

Inclusive

Alternative

In the 18th and 19th centuries,

the U.S. government established

reservations to bring Indigenous

tribes under government

control. Forced relocation led to

devastating, long-lasting effects.

In the 19th and 20th centuries,

“off the reservation” was used to

convey contempt and hatred for

Indigenous people who left the

reservation.

Currently, the term

is used to describe

in engaging in

disruptive activity

outside normal

bounds and/or to

deviate from what

it expected or

customary

The phrase is offensive because

Indigenous people who were found

outside reservation bounds faced violence

and death. For contemporary Indigenous

communities, it can be offensive because

many tribes still live on reservations and

continue to have issues with the U.S.

government.

• Overstepped

• Out of

bounds

• Walked out

Guide to Inclusive Language: Race andEthnicity | 7

Term: Uppity

History and/or Origin

How It Is

Used Today Why It Can be Harmful and/or Offensive

Suggested

Inclusive

Alternative

Originated in a collection of Black

American folktales in the late 19th

century (Uncle Remus and His

Listener)

and later evolved into a

racist term as white Southerners

began to use it to describe Black

people who they viewed as “not

knowing their place” because

they felt Black people did not

belong in certain places in society

The term is

normally used to

describe a person

who the speaker

views are arrogant

or self-important

The term continues to be used in a

derogatory way towards Black Americans;

though its use can largely depend on

context

Use plain

and/or direct

language:

• Arrogant

• Self-

important

• Pretentious

ii. Racially Coded Language

Racially coded language, also called dog-whistles, is another form of covert discursive racism

that uses race-neutral terms as racialized terms in order to disguise explicit and/or implicit

racial hostility.

Like racially biased or anti-ethnic language, it can trigger racial stereotypes

and other negative associations without the stigma of explicit racism. Unlike other forms of

racialized language, racially coded language does not explicitly refer to race, despite being

typically aimed at historically marginalized communities, ideas, policies, practices, etc. that

threaten traditional (i.e., white, cisgender, heterosexual, Christian males) power structures.

Because the coded language has been used toward a speciﬁc group of people so often, its

use become synonymous with that particular group. Examples are provided in Table 2.

Table 2: Racially Coded Language

Term Background How It’s Become Racialized

Suggested

Inclusive

Alternative

Illegal Alien The term “alien” was used

as a non-derogatory term

to describe someone as a

foreigner dating as far back as

the late 18th century

In recent times, the term

“illegal alien” has been

used to trigger fears about

immigrants, usually Latino or

Muslims and promotes false

associations with criminality,

high fertility, taking advantage

of government assistance

programs, and disrespecting

the American way of life.

• Undocumented

immigrant

• Unauthorized

immigrant

Guide to Inclusive Language: Race andEthnicity | 8

Inner City and

Urban

After the large-scale migration

of white Americans out of the

inner cities in the 1950s-1970s,

people of color were restricted

to the cities for economic

and social reasons. As a

result of white ﬂight, these

communities were left with

limited access to political,

economic, and educational

opportunities.

Both “inner city” and

“urban” have been used as

a coded way to link negative

conditions, such as low-

income, crime, violence, etc.

to communities or color.

Moreover, the term “inner

city” is often to describe

communities of color, even

if they are not in the “inner”

area of the city. Likewise,

urban has been used to

describe fashion or music

associated with Black culture.

• “City center”

or “downtown”

when using in

the geographic

context referring

to centrally

located city

neighborhoods.

• “Under-

resourced”

or “low-

income” when

referring to

neighborhoods

or communities

with high

poverty rates

iii. Racial Microaggressions

Covert discursive racism also includes racial microaggressions.

Microaggressions are

the “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 the marginalized group membership.”

On the surface,

microaggressions may seem innocuous and harmless, but research has demonstrated that

they have a powerful impact on the psychological well-being of people of color and a very

real impact on their standard of living.

Microaggressions are often referred to as “death

by a thousand cuts” because they create a harsh and invalidating environment, leading to

feelings of anger and frustration, depression and anxiety, and reduced self-esteem.

Microaggressions are often categorized into three types, ranging from subtle and

unconscious acts to deliberate attacks: microinsults, microinvalidations, and microassaults.

The ﬁrst two are examples of covert discursive racism, while the last is an example of overt

discursive racism and will be discussed separately in the next section.

a. Microinsults

Microinsults are often unconscious verbal and nonverbal communications or behavior

that conveys rudeness, insensitivity, and demeans a person’s racial or ethnic identity. An

example of nonverbal microinsults might be a teacher ignoring a student of color in the

classroom. This type of communication conveys that the contributions of people of color are

insigniﬁcant. An example of a verbal microinsult could be asking a person of color how they

got a job in a ﬁeld that is predominantly white.

Guide to Inclusive Language: Race andEthnicity | 9

Microinsults can be broken down into the following themes: ascription of intelligence; criminality

or assumption of criminal status; pathologizing cultural values or communication styles; and

second-class citizen.

Deﬁnitions and examples of these themes can be found in Table 3.

Table 3: Deﬁnitions and Examples of Microinsults

Type of

Microinsult Deﬁnition Example

Ascription of

Intelligence

Assigning a level of intelligence to a

person of color based on their race

• “You are a credit to your race.”

• “How did you learn to write so well?”

Criminality/

Assumption of

Criminal Status

Presuming a person of color is

dangerous, a criminal, or deviant based

on their race

• “Your neighborhood is so diverse. Do

you feel safe?”

• “Are your parents legal?”

• Using the terms “ghetto” or “thug” to

describe a Black or Latino person.

Pathologizing

Cultural

Values/

Communication

Styles

Presuming that the values and

communications styles of people of

color are abnormal and stereotyping

• Saying: “Black people are so loud!”

• Referring to a Black person, “His name

is Dave? I thought his name was Jamal

or Antoine or something”.

• Saying to an Asian person, “How come

you don’t like rice?”

Type of

Microinsult Deﬁnition Example

Second-class

citizen

Not treating people of color the same as

white people

• Saying “you people…”

• Talking to people differently based

on race; for example, greeting a Black

person with “’Sup?” while greeting

a white person with “How are you?

What’s happening?”

• Behavior and conduct examples:

- Not greeting a person of color when

they enter a check-out line, but

greeting the white customer

- Putting a group of Black people, or

people of color in the back of the room

- Assigning seating area in an ofﬁce

based on race or national origin (e.g.,

grouping all the Latinos in one area)

b. Microinvalidations

Microinvalidations are characterized by words or phrases that exclude, negate, or nullify

the psychological thoughts, feelings, or experiential reality of a person of color. Examples of

microinvalidations may include repeatedly asking a person of Asian or Latino descent, who

was born and raised in the United States, where they were born or telling them to go back

to “their country,” or telling a Black or African American person that “I don’t see color” when

they are talking about their experiences with racism. These types of microaggressions have

Guide to Inclusive Language: Race andEthnicity | 10

been categorized into four different themes: alien in own land; colorblindness; denial of

individual racism; and myth of meritocracy. For deﬁnitions and examples of these themes,

please refer to Table 4.

Table 4: Deﬁnitions and Examples of Microinvalidations

Type of

Microinsult Deﬁnition Example

Alien in Own

Land

Belief that visible racially or ethnically

marginalized groups are perpetual

foreigners

• “Where are you from?”

• “You speak good English.”

• Asking an Asian American to teach

them words in an Asian language

Colorblindness Statements that indicate that a white

person does not want to acknowledge race

• “There is only one race, the human race.”

• “When I look at you, I don’t see color”

Denial of

Individual

Racism

Denying one’s role in the perpetuation

of racism

• “I’m not racist, I have a Black friend or

family member”

Myth of

meritocracy

Statements that assert that race does

not play a role in life successes

• “Everyone can succeed if they work

hard”

B. Overt Discursive Racism

Overt discursive racism, like microassaults, are easy to identify because they are explicit

and are meant to denigrate or hurt the intended target. All derogatory language that is used

to convey belittlement, contempt, or hatred toward their targets is never acceptable in the

District government workplace.

i. Microassaults

Microassaults are conscious and intentional actions or slurs that are often compared

to the traditional concept of racism, in which overt, racially charged, and intentionally

discriminatory attacks or avoidant behaviors are the norm. These types of microaggressions

are generally expressed in limited “private” situations that allow the deliverer some degree

of anonymity. However, individuals may become more likely to publicly share their notion

of the inferiority of historically marginalized groups when they 1) lose control or 2) feel safe,

such as when they are in a group of like-minded peers.

There are many examples of this type of microaggression, but here are a few:

• Using racial epithets or slurs

• Telling ethnic or racial jokes

• Displaying a swastika or other racist symbols

• Discouraging or making snide comments about interracial couples or families

Guide to Inclusive Language: Race andEthnicity | 11

ii. Exonyms

An exonym is a name given to a group of people, a place, or an object by another group that

often perpetuates harmful stereotypes.

• “Eskimo”

• Historically, it has been used by non-Alaskan Natives to describe Alaskan natives,

including the Inuit, Inuit Nunangat, the Yuki, and the Inupiat, and it is not a name

that they chose for themselves. It was originally believed that the word meant

“eater of raw meat”, which characterized Alaskan natives as barbaric and violent.

Although, linguists now believe the word came from the French word esquimaux, it

was too late to rehabilitate the negative connotations associated with the word.

• “Spirit Animal”

• Today, this term is used to describe an animal, person, or object with which you

identify strongly. However, for centuries, Indigenous peoples have formed unique

relationships with animals through their connection to their environments.

As a result of this relationship, many traditions include the use of animals

to communicate the values and spiritual beliefs of Indigenous communities.

However, the non-Indigenous use of ‘spirit animal’ trivializes these sacred

connections and is a form of cultural appropriation.

Guide to Inclusive Language: Race andEthnicity | 12

III. Best Practices and General Guidelines for Using Inclusive Language

Using inclusive language is important, particularly for people who have historically

been excluded and marginalized based on their racial or ethnic identity, their physical

characteristics, including skin color, or their personal appearance, including religious garments.

General guidelines for using inclusive language for race and ethnicity are included below:

• Understand that language is constantly evolving.

• As we continue to learn about each other and grow, language will continue to

change and evolve at an accelerated pace. Its evolution is driven by academia,

social justice movements, social media, and technology. Therefore, it is a

personal responsibility to seek out new information and/or actively listen

to historically marginalized communities about which terms or phrases are

acceptable.

• Be thoughtful and intentional about the language used.

• This can include researching terms of which you are unsure of the history.

• Be sensitive to self-identiﬁcation.

• Avoid making generalized statements about race and ethnicity. People have a

right to choose how to identify themselves and those terms may not always be

deemed acceptable by other members of the same ethnic or racial group (e.g.,

someone identifying as Black rather than African American.) See Table 5 and 6.

• Avoid hyphenating national origins (e.g., Irish American, not Irish-American)

• Historically, the hyphen was used disparagingly as a reference to immigrants and

suggested that they were not politically loyal to the United States, particularly

during the WWI period. The Associated Press and the National Museum of African

American History and Culture have recently moved to drop the use of the hyphen.

• Replace harmful terms that have racist histories or connotations with more neutral

language that conveys the same message.

• Avoid using demographic categories as nouns (e.g., saying “the Mexicans” or “the Asians”)

• Using these words as nouns risks homogenizing the demographic groups,

suggesting that its members think and act in the same way.

A. Suggested Inclusive Terms when referring to Racial or Ethnic Identiﬁcation

Table 5 provides explanations for each of the ﬁve racial categories deﬁned by the United

States Census Bureau (American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian or Asian American, Black or

African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Paciﬁc Islander, and white.)

Guide to Inclusive Language: Race andEthnicity | 13

Table 5: Guidelines for the Five Racial Categories

Race Explanation Guidelines

American

Indian or

Alaska Native

• Individuals from these backgrounds

use a range of words, often based on

speciﬁc tribes, to describe themselves

and may prefer various descriptors

other than “American Indian” or

“Native American.”

• Native American and American Indian

are terms created by white Americans.

• This is a matter of personal preference

(Native American vs. American Indian

vs. Indigenous; Canadian Indigenous

people often use First Nations/People).

• Respectful, general terms are

Indigenous or First Nations/People.

• Indian by itself is generally not

acceptable because it typically refers

to people from India.

• When possible, the preference is

the use of a speciﬁc tribal name, for

example, the Pamunkey, Piscataway,

or Powhatan people, or in the case

of Alaskan Natives, the Inuit, or Yupik

people.

Asian or Asian

American

• Asian is used when referring to people

of Asian ancestry from the Asian

continent (Korea, Vietnam, Thailand,

India, Pakistan).

• Asian American is used when referring

to Americans of Asian descent.

• The two terms are not synonymous.

• Asian origin may be divided regionally,

i.e., South Asian, Southeast Asian, East

Asian.

• Depending on who you are referring to,

use Asian or Asian American to refer to

the population in its entirety.

• Otherwise, the preference is to use

more speciﬁc terms when referring to

individuals or groups if you know the

speciﬁc country of origin, i.e., Japanese

American, Chinese American, etc. If

you do not know the speciﬁc country of

origin, use Asian or Asian American.

• People from Central Asia or West Asia

may not identify as Asian (for example,

people from Pakistan may identify as

Middle Eastern).

Black or African

American

• African American refers to both

descendants of enslaved persons in

the US and African immigrants and

their children.

• Black is a term that may be used as a

sense of pride and empowerment; may

also be used because of the unique

Black experience in America, regardless

of national origin.

• African American and Black are

typically not considered offensive,

however they are not always

interchangeable.

• People of African descent have varied

cultural backgrounds, experiences, and

histories; they may be of any race.

• People of African descent may not

identify as Black or African American.

• The “B” in Black is always capitalized.

• The use of Black or African American is

a matter of personal preference.

• Some alternatives may include

American Descendants of Slavery

(ADOS) or Descendants of American

Slaves (DAS).

• Individuals may also identify as Afro-

Caribbean, West Indian, Afro-Latino/a,

etc.

Guide to Inclusive Language: Race andEthnicity | 14

Race Explanation Guidelines

Native

Hawaiian or

Other Paciﬁc

Islander

• Refers to people with origins in

Polynesia, Micronesia, or Melanesia

• Note: The federal government formed

two separate categories to refer to

Asian Americans and Paciﬁc Islanders

in 1997

• The separate term was meant to

recognize that Paciﬁc Islanders have

and continue to experience unique

struggles related to sovereignty and

decolonization.

• Use Paciﬁc Islander when referring to

the population in its entirety.

• Otherwise, use the preferred term of

the individual or group, for example

Native Hawaiian, Samoan, Guamanian

or CHamoru/Chamorro, or Tongan.

White • White or European American

are both

acceptable.

• American is not interchangeable with

white.

• Use of Caucasian is generally

discouraged because it originated as

a way of classifying white people as

a race to be favorable compared with

other races.

• Where possible and appropriate, if

you know, be speciﬁc about regional

(Southern European, Scandinavian,

etc.) or national (English, Irish, Italian,

Polish, etc.) origin.

• The “w” in white is typically not

capitalized.

Table 6: Guidelines for Using Hispanic and Latino/a

Table 6 provides explanations for terms that are used by Hispanic and/or Latino individuals.

Ethnicity Explanation Guidelines

Hispanic and

Latino/a

• Neither term is considered a racial

category under the U.S. Census Bureau.

• Both terms are considered ethnicities

because individual members can be of

any race.

• Hispanic refers to Spanish speaking

people, including people from Spain

and excluding people from Brazil.

• Latino/a (male and female

respectively) refers to individuals from

Latin American and some Caribbean

countries regardless of whether they

speak Spanish.

• Hispanic is rarely used outside the US;

many people identify with their country

of origin or ethnicity (ex: Colombian,

Mexican, Salvadoran, etc.)

• Chicano/a is the chosen identity of

some Mexican Americans in the U.S.

Southwest; use only if it is a person’s

preference.

• When referring to a group, Latinx can

be used as a gender inclusive term.

Please note that this may not be a term

that is widely used or accepted by the

communities it describes as there is

not full consensus about its use.

• Latine is another emerging gender-

neutral descriptor.

Guide to Inclusive Language: Race andEthnicity | 15

B. Suggested Inclusive Terms to Refer to Individuals and Groups

When referring to racial and ethnic groups, consider replacing non-inclusive terms with some

of the suggested inclusive alternatives provided below in Table 7. Each suggestion includes

an explanation of why the non-inclusive term is not considered inclusive and why the

suggested term is a better alternative.

Table 7: Suggested Inclusive Terms to Refer to Individuals and Groups

Non-Inclusive

Term Why It Is Not Inclusive Suggested Inclusive Alternative

Non-white • Deﬁnes people by what they lack

(whiteness), instead of what they are

(people of color)

• Sets up white as the defaults and as

the category that can be named.

• Can also be considered vague

Black, Indigenous, and other People of

Color (BIPOC)

• The term was created to highlight the

unique relationship to whiteness that

Indigenous and Black people have,

which shapes the experiences of and

relationship to white supremacy for all

people of color within the US.

• General guideline is to be speciﬁc

when possible.

People of Color

• Represents a shift from the term

minority or colored people

• Use when referring to groups from

various racial, ethnic, or cultural

backgrounds.

• Use the speciﬁc group title whenever

possible (see Table 3a)

Non-Inclusive

Term Why It Is Not Inclusive Suggested Inclusive Alternative

Minority • Has become a catch-all phrase for

those who are non-white.

• Unnecessarily deﬁnes people as

lacking some quality that would place

them in the majority.

• Will become inaccurate as national

demographics change; currently,

“minorities” constitute the global

majority.

• BIPOC

• People of Color

• Underrepresented in XYZ

Underrepresented

Minority (URM)

Has been used to reference the low

participation rates of racial and ethnic

communities in STEM ﬁelds compared

to their representation in the U.S.

population

; fails to acknowledge

that these communities have been

systemically and historically excluded.

Historically marginalized communities.

• It acknowledges that these

communities have been systemically

denied access to full economic,

political, and cultural participation

throughout U.S. history.

Guide to Inclusive Language: Race andEthnicity | 16

IV. Resources

Additional resources for understanding race, ethnicity, and racism:

a. Read (Articles, Books, Websites, etc.)

• Anderson, C. (2016). White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of the Racial Divide. Bloomsbury

Publishing.

• Allen, T. (2012). The Invention of the White Race, Volume I: Racial Oppression and

Social Control. Verso Publishing.

• Bonilla-Silva, E. (2013). Racism without Racists: Color-blind Racism and the

Persistence of Racial Inequality in America. Rowman & Littleﬁeld.

• Broman, C. (2017). Race and Ethnicity in Society. Cognella, Inc.

• Brown, D. (2012). Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Open Road Media.

• Dunbar-Ortiz, R. (2015). An Indigenous Peoples’ History: History of the United States.

Beacon Press.

• Lee, E. (2015). The Making of Asian America: A History. Simon & Schuster.

• Oluo, I. (2019). So, you want to talk about race. Basic Books.

• Parrillo, V. N. (2015). Understanding Race and Ethnic Relations. Pearson.

• Roediger, D. (2006). Working Toward Whiteness: How American Immigrants Became

White. Basic Books.

b. Watch (Movies and Documentaries)

• Chescaleigh YouTube Channel. (2015). Sometimes You’re a Caterpillar. https://youtu.

be/hRiWgx4sHGg

• MTV Impact. (2015). 6 Phrases with Surprisingly Racist Origins. https://youtu.be/

QhENGl3XviM

• TEDx Talks. (2019) Eliminating Microaggressions: The Next Level of Inclusion. https://

youtu.be/cPqVit6TJjw

• Documentary: 13th (2016) (available on Netﬂix)

• Documentary: I am Not Your Negro (2017) (available on Amazon Prime)

• Documentary Images of Indians: How Hollywood Stereotyped the Native American

(2003)

• Documentary: Asian Americans (available on PBS)

• Documentary: The Claudia Kishi Club (2020) (available on Netﬂix)

• Documentary: Latino Americans (available on PBS)

• Documentary: Cesar’s Last Fast (2015) (available on iTunes)

• Series: When They See Us (2019) (available on Netﬂix)

• Movie: Just Mercy (2019)

• Movie: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007)

• Movie: Pelo Malo (Bad Hair) (2014) (available on YouTube and Amazon Prime)

Guide to Inclusive Language: Race andEthnicity | 17

c. Listen (Podcasts)

• Pod Save the People, hosted by DeRay Mckesson, Sam Sinyangwe, Kaya Henderson,

and De’Ara Belenger (available on Apple and Google Podcasts)

• Yo, Is This Racist, co-hosted by Tawny Newsome and Andrew Ti (available on Apple

Podcasts, iheart, and earwolf)

• Silence is Not an Option, hosted by Don Lemmon (available on Apple and Google

Podcasts and iheart)

• The Diversity Gap, hosted by Bethaney Wilkinson (available on the Diversity Gap,

Apple Podcasts, and Anchor)

• Intersectionality Matters, produced by the African American Policy Forum and hosted

by Kimberlé Crenshaw (available on Apple and Google Podcasts)

• NPR’s Code Switch (available on Apple and Google Podcasts)

Guide to Inclusive Language: Race andEthnicity | 18

References

1. Di Angelo, R. (2018). White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about

Racism. Beacon Press. Pg. 73

2. The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary deﬁnes racism as 1) the unfair treatment of people

who belong to a different race; violent behavior towards them; and 2) the belief that

some races of people are better than others, or a general belief about a whole group of

people based only on their race. In 2020, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary updated their

deﬁnition of racism to include the systemic oppression of a racial group to the social,

economic, and political advantage of anther.

3. Cole, N. L. (2019, July 19). Deﬁning Racism Beyond its Dictionary Meaning: A System of

Power, Privilege, and Oppression. https://racism.org/articles/deﬁning-racism/3115-

deﬁning-racism-beyond?start=3.

4. Greenblatt, A. (2013, October 22). The Racial History of the “Grandfather Clause.” NPR Code

Switch: Word Watch. https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/10/21/239081586/

the-racial-history-of-the-grandfather-clause.

5. Gandhi, L. (2014, March 02). Who First Said, ‘Long Time, No See’ And In Which Language.

https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/03/09/288300303/who-ﬁrst-said-long-

time-no-see-and-in-which-language.

6. Malesky, K. (2014, June 29). Should Saying Someone Is ‘Off the Reservation’ Be Off-

Limits? https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/06/29/326690947/should-saying-

someone-is-off-the-reservation-be-off-limits.

7. Bickley, R. B. (2002, October 3). Uncle Remus Tales. https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/

articles/arts-culture/uncle-remus-tales/.

8. National Education Association. (N.D.) Coded Language. https://neaedjustice.org/social-

justice-issues/racial-justice/coded-language/.

9. National Archives. (N.D.) Alien and Sedition Acts (1798). https://www.archives.gov/

milestone-documents/alien-and-sedition-acts?_ga=2.18880703.609440864.1663175112-

1456785745.1663175112

10. Menjívar, Cecilia. (2022). Possibilities for Sociological Research to Reduce Inequalities:

Observations from the Immigration Scholarship. Socius: Sociological Research for a

Dynamic World https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23780231221080014.

11. Microaggressions were ﬁrst coined by Harvard University professor Chester Pierce in the

1970s to describe the subtle ways Black people experienced discrimination from their

white counterparts. See Pierce, C. (1970). Offensive mechanisms in Black Seventies, ed.

Floyd Barbour. Porter Sargent.

12. Derald Wing Sue has also written extensively about microaggressions. See Sue, D.

W. (N.D.). Microaggression: More than Just Race. https://www.uua.org/ﬁles/pdf/m/

microaggressions_by_derald_wing_sue_ph.d._.pdf

13. Sue, D.W. (2010, November 17). Microaggressions: More Than Just Race. https://

www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/microaggressions-in-everyday-life/201011/

microaggressions-more-just-race.

14. Wong, G., Derthick, A. O., David, E. J. R., Saw, A., & Okazaki, S. (2014). The what, the why,

and the how: A review of racial microaggressions research in psychology. Race and social

problems, 6(2), 181-200.

Guide to Inclusive Language: Race andEthnicity | 19

15. Sue, D. W., Capodilupo, C. M., Torino, G. C., Bucceri, J. M., Holder, A., Nadal, K. L., & Esquilin,

M. (2007). Racial microaggressions in everyday life: implications for clinical practice.

American psychologist, 62(4), 271.

16. See Sue et al. (2007).

17. Sue et al. (2007)

18. An epithet is a word or phrase that is used to insult a person by referring to his/her race,

skin color, or religion in a negative manner

19. Hersher, R. (2016, April 24). Why You Probably Shouldn’t Say ‘Eskimo.’ https://www.npr.

org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/04/24/475129558/why-you-probably-shouldnt-say-

eskimo#:~:text=People%20in%20many%20parts%20of%20the%20Arctic%20consider,of%20

raw%20meat%2C%20which%20connoted%20barbarism%20and%20violence.

20. See Magner, E. (2022, April 14). Is ‘Spirit Animal’ Offensive? Here’s Why You Should Remove

It From Your Vocabulary. https://www.wellandgood.com/spirit-animal-native-american/.

See also Learn, J.R. (2021, March 24). Please Stop Using the Term ‘Spirit Animal.’ https://

www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/please-stop-using-the-term-spirit-animal.

21.

22. The AP Stylebook recommends capitalizing the “I” in Indigenous when referring to

inhabitants of a place, falling in line with the capitalization of Black, Latino, Asian

American, Native American, or American Indian.

23. American Psychological Association (APA). (N.D.) Racial and Ethnic Identity. https://

apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/bias-free-language/racial-ethnic-minorities.

24. Ofﬁce of Management and Budget. (N.D). Revisions to the Standards for the Classiﬁcation

of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/omb/

fedreg_1997standards.

25. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, these four groups have the highest populations

among the Paciﬁc Islanders in the US. See U.S. Census Bureau. (2021, April 30). Asian

and Paciﬁc Islander Population in the United States. https://www.census.gov/library/

visualizations/2020/demo/aian-population.html.

26. According to the APA style guide, you may adjust American/European for location (White

Argentinian, White Lebanese, etc.)

27. See APA (N.D.)

28. In 2020, John Daniszewski, Vice President for Standards for the Associated Press, noted

that “There is, at this time, less support for capitalizing white…White people generally do

not share the same history and culture, or the experience of being discriminated against

because of skin color…capitalizing the term white, as is done by white supremacists, risks

subtly conveying legitimacy to such beliefs. See https://www.apstylebook.com/blog_

posts/16.

29. “Brown”, which has been used to describe Latin, Indigenous, Asian, Middle Eastern and

North African people, should be avoided as a descriptor.

30. American Psychological Association (APA). (2021). Inclusive Language Guidelines. APA.

https://www.apa.org/about/apa/equity-diversity-inclusion/language-guidelines The

APA style guide notes that BIPOC is considered by many to indicate a hierarchy among

communities of color and recommends the use of people of color or communities of color.

31. See APA (2021).

Guide to Inclusive Language: Race andEthnicity | 20

32. The general phrase “underrepresented” is considered appropriate, however be speciﬁc

and accurate when possible (e.g., Despite there being an estimated 5.2 million American

Indians and Alaska Natives in the United States, only about 3,400 are physicians, making

these groups underrepresented in the physician workforce.)

33. Abdul-Alim, J. (2013, October 17). Why are the Underrepresented Minorities Underachieving

in STEM? Diverse: Issues in Higher Education. https://www.diverseeducation.com/home/

article/15093813/why-are-the-underrepresented-minorities-underachieving-in-stem.

34. These podcasts may also be available on other platforms.