Affirmative Action

A set of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking to include particular groups based on their gender, race, religion, or nationality in areas in which they are excluded in the past such as education and employment.For myths and facts on affirmative action, see the ACLU Racial Justice Program, ACLU Human Rights Program, and the African American Policy Forum’s factsheet.

Community Care

Communities using their power, privilege, and resources to help people both in and out of their scope of reach, including friends, neighbors, colleagues, or members of an organization they frequent. It can be activism, practicing anti-racism, calling out injustices, donating to organizations, or simply asking someone, “What do you need and how can I help?”

Deep Poverty

The U.S. Census Bureau defines deep poverty as living in a household with income that falls below 50% of the federal poverty line. The United Nations describes it as “a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education, and information. It depends not only on income but also on access to services.” Deep poverty is also known as extreme poverty, abject poverty, absolute poverty, or destitution.

District Attorney (DA)

The chief prosecutor for a local government area, like a city or county.

Enslaved Person vs. Slave

Today, most historians refer to “enslaved people” instead of “slaves.” This language choice separates a person's identity from his/her circumstance. Likewise, saying “owner” or “master” empowers enslavers and dehumanizes enslaved persons, reducing them to commodities rather than someone who had slavery imposed on them. Using “enslaved” instead of “slave” and “enslaver” instead of “master” are subtle but powerful ways of affirming that slavery was forced upon someone, rather than an inherent condition. - Telling the Story: Enslavement of African People in the United States.

For more affirming language to use when writing about slavery, check out Writing About Slavery? This Might Help

Generational Trauma

The long-term psychological effects of trauma (both personal and communal) that can be passed down through generations of families and cultures. Beyond psychological, these generational effects are also familial, social, cultural, neurobiological, and possibly even genetic.

Jail vs. Prison vs. Detention Center

Jails are locally operated short-term facilities that hold people awaiting trial, sentencing, or both, and incarcerated people serving shorter sentences. However, due to a broken cash bail system, some incarcerated people spend years in jails. Prisons are longer-term facilities for incarcerated people run by the federal or state governments. The term “detention center” commonly refers to facilities where detained immigrants are kept while awaiting a deportation hearing or where minors serve a sentence or await trial.

Misogynoir

Coined by the queer Black feminist Dr. Moya Bailey in 2010, the term blends concepts that combines “misogyny” (extreme hatred of women) and the French word for black, “noir.” Per Ms. Bailey, misogynoir is the anti-Black racist misogyny that Black women experience. As noted by the Blackburn Center, misogynoir comes in many forms in daily life, for instance 1) Black women are viewed as threatening or angry whenever they speak up for themselves, and 2) Maternal mortality rates for Black women are three times higher than for white women in the United States, with many attributing that to racial bias in the healthcare system.

Money Bail

Also known as cash bail or bail bond; an amount of money determined by prosecutors and judges that must be paid so a suspect can be released from pre-trial detention.

Parole

The release of an incarcerated person temporarily (for a special purpose) or permanently before the completion of a sentence, on the promise of good behavior. Many parole agreements include stringent conditions (i.e. strict surveillance by a parole officer, maintaining employment and residence, and not leaving a geographic area without permission).

Police Militarization

The use of military equipment (e.g., armored tanks, grenade launchers, and assault rifles) and tactics by police officers, often doing “normal” police work.

Prison Abolition

A movement to reduce or eliminate the prison system and replace it with systems of rehabilitation and community safety.

Prison-Industrial Complex

The rapid expansion of U.S. prisons and incarcerated people driven by the political influence of private prison companies and businesses that supply goods and services to federal prison agencies for profit.

Prison

Institutional facilities under the jurisdiction of the state or federal government where convicted persons serve longer sentences. These facilities are sometimes privately operated, usually by a corporation whose bottom line depends on locking up more and more people. While private prisons are supposed to save governments money, the evidence of this is mixed at best. Private prisons have also been linked to numerous cases of violence and atrocious conditions.

Racial Profiling

A longstanding and deeply troubling national problem, per the ACLU. It occurs every day, in cities and towns across the U.S., when law enforcement and private security target people of color for humiliating and often frightening detentions, interrogations, and searches without evidence of criminal activity and based on perceived race, ethnicity, national origin, or religion. Racial profiling is patently illegal, violating the U.S. Constitution’s core promises of equal protection under the law to all and freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. It’s not just patently illegal but also ineffective: alienating communities from law enforcement, hindering community policing efforts, and causing law enforcement to lose credibility and trust among people they’re sworn to protect and serve.

Recidivism

A person’s relapse into criminal behavior that results in re-arrest, reconviction, and return to prison after their release.

School-to-Prison Pipeline

The tendency for non-white, poor, and disadvantaged youth and young adults to become incarcerated because of harsh disciplinary and over-policing practices within schools.

Social Determinants of Health (SDoH)

The conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age. These are shaped by the distribution of money, power, and resources at global, national, and local levels. Conditions (e.g., social, economic, physical) in these various environments and settings (e.g., school, church, workplace, neighborhood) have been referred to as “place.” In addition to the more material aspects of “place,” patterns of social engagement and sense of security and well-being are also affected by where people live.

Resources that enhance quality of life can have a significant influence on population health outcomes (e.g., safe and affordable housing, availability of healthy foods, toxin-free environments). How population groups experience “place” directly impacts the specific social components of SDoH (e.g., access to educational, economic, and job opportunities; public safety; language and literacy) and public components of SDoH (e.g., natural environments, built environments). See here for more details.

Trauma Porn

Refers to art or media that exploits the pain, suffering, and brutalization of marginalized people for the sake of entertainment. These depictions cater to non-marginalized viewers and characters rather than exploring the experience, situation, or POV of the person(s) being victimized. These kinds of depictions are harmful for all viewers as they deny the life and livelihood of those being victimized, devaluing their existence in our communities and society, granting no opportunity for empathy and deeper understanding.