Defining The Movement
By Bianca Bucholtz & Lucas Polack
Intro:
In the last few weeks, millions of people have taken the streets to protest racial inequalities and show their support for racial equality. As directors and members of VIM Magazine, we stand with our peers in choosing to recognize the ways we need to change and work on being actively anti-racist. While we understand that we have not experienced racism and our privilege has allowed us to benefit in ways many of our peers haven't, we also understand we have a platform to share and educate others. As the current editing directors, we created a guide to define commonly misused or misunderstood terms and expressions surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement. We hope to arm our readers with accurate information necessary to have productive and informed conversations. Throughout this article, we reference material or definitions by a variety of sources in an effort to provide the most educated and relevant connotations of these terms and expressions.
Abolish the Police:
“Abolish the police” draws from the belief that, given a moldy wall in a house, the answer is not to paint over the mold but rebuild the wall completely. Advocates for this movement see racism as something inherent to modern law enforcement; something impossible to truly remedy from within. In accordance with systemic racism, “abolish the police” is an approach to reform that entails a complete upheaval of our current policing system and, most importantly, the implementation of superior, community-oriented replacement.
Ally:
Buildingallies.org defines 3 levels of allyship as being awareness, action and integration. In looking at these three levels of allyship and how they apply to the current movement, it is important for all to be aware that some people hold privileges over others due to systematic institutions that benefit people through the oppression of others based on race, gender, sexuality, class, ability, etc. By understanding and admitting these privileges, one can take action in making change and actively work to fix the oppression of others and fight the unjust systems in place so we can integrate and grow together as a society.
Anti-Racism:
Anti-Racism is the process of actively understanding racism embedded within our nation's structures, policies and practices and actively working on changing that. Being actively anti-racist encourages a complete rejection of racism and discrimination and working on restarting and reintegrating society as a whole. It means taking that step in calling out racism wherever it is seen, regardless of the consequences. Being anti-racist is a conscious decision to dedicate every day to changing the way you think and how you react to racist structures and attitudes.
BIPOC:
An acronym equal parts essential to an inclusive discussion as it is telling of the BLM movement’s immense impact, BIPOC stands for Black, Indigenous, People of Color. Perhaps due to its seemingly overnight rise in popularity, BIPOC is widely used but yet to be widely understood. This term looks to encompass all non-white ethnicities by emphasizing the presence of Black people as well as Indigenous people in the discussion. BIPOC is a more formal, most preferred term when discussing non-white people.
Black Trans Lives Matter:
In recognizing why Black lives matter, it is important to understand that not all Black experiences are similar. Intersectionality allows us to understand that a multitude of identities, such as gender and race, can overlap and put one at a greater disadvantage within society. The movement known as Black Trans Lives Matter grew in an effort to include those who are put in more danger because of their race and gender identity as well as draw attention to the 42 transgender individuals killed within 2019 and 2020, most of whom were Black transgender woman (HRC.org.)
Defund the Police:
Police reform is a question Americans can no longer afford to ignore, as demonstrated by only the most recent atrocities in law enforcement. Many have answered with the rally cry “defund the police,” a relatively moderate approach to change. Often misinterpreted as an effort to disband the police, “defund the police” actually demands the reallocation of government money in police budgeting. In other words: take from the military-grade police equipment jar to fill the public health jar or the youth program jar, much like how it is allocated in suburbs..
Equality:
Equality is an ideal. By definition, ideals can only exist in a perfect world. It goes without saying this world is not that. In a perfect world, all lives truly do matter. But in this world -- and country in particular -- Black lives are taken, Black rights are denied, and Black movements are ignored under the guise of “all lives matter” -- a bastardized perception of equality resulting in its hideous weaponization. a crooked twist of words that denies more equality than it promotes.All lives don’t matter unless Black lives do. Until then, equality remains a pie-in-the-sky ideal.
Equity:
“Something that is fair and just” is surprisingly not Dictionary.com’s definition of equality; it is their definition of equity. While the two terms have identical long term goals, the way in which they execute that goal is drastically different. Equity is equality with consideration; fairness that doesn’t just promote equality but provides the tools needed to reach equality. More often than not, this translates to societal aid for those denied their right to a fair life by the very system responsible for ensuring such a life.
Intersectionality:
Oxford Dictionary defines intersectionality as the interconnected nature of social categories such as race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, age, etc. Intersectionality is the framework for understanding that people or groups of people can be and are often affected by multiple social categorizations. It takes into account individual experiences and identities and understands how they overlap and affect one's privilege in society. For example, according to equalpay.com, while a white woman makes 82 cents to a man's dollar, a Black woman only makes 62 cents. In this example, intersectionality creates an understanding as to how race and gender overlap to create a disadvantage for black women.
Microaggressions:
In an interview with NPR, Kevin Nadal, a professor of psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, defines microaggressions as “the everyday, subtle, intentional — and oftentimes unintentional — interactions or behaviors that communicate some sort of bias toward historically marginalized groups.” Some examples of microaggressions could include telling a person of color they “act white” or “speak normal” or following a person of color in a store to “keep an eye on them.” Regardless of how they are phrased or what the situation is, most forms of microaggressions stem from the need to diminish the individual experiences of people of color and enforce the racism ingrained in our nation's history.
Non-Racism:
While understanding why certain things are racist or participating in racist tendencies is a good start, it is nowhere near enough that needs to be done by every individual in order to create change. Being non-racist implies that while you don’t necessarily engage in being racist, you don’t actively work on stopping it. For example, being non-racist could mean that while you refrain from saying racist jokes, you might laugh at one someone else said or ignore telling them it was wrong to begin with.
Performative Activism:
In the literal sense, “performative” can be characterized by the performance of a social or cultural role (Merrien-Webster.) Recent weeks have shown a rise in performative activism, a form of activism that sprung from a desire to gain attention and fit a norm rather than show devotion to a cause. Many companies and individuals have used their platforms to post #BlackLivesMatter or a black square in an attempt to show their support for the BLM movement, yet refuse to implement changes within their companies or personal lives that will actively benefit Black individuals.
Systematic Racism:
Both “systematic” and “systemic” are adjectives. However, the two words are not interchangeable. The more commonly used “systematic” refers to a methodical quality about a procedure; a method to a madness. Systemic racism is the more prevalent and detrimental of the two, but that’s not to diminish the cancerous impact of its counterpart. Systematic racism can describe a practice that is intentionally and methodically racist, anywhere from KKK terror tactics to employee/customer discrimination.
Systemic Racism:
The lineage of the word “systemic” begins in the medical field, where it was used to describe an illness partial to no one organ but rather the body as a whole. Something inherent to and all-pervasive within a system can be “systemic.” This long-neglected word is now central in the Black Lives Matter conversation, as part of the phrase “systemic racism,” which angles racism as an illness embedded in the US government. As much is apparent in the disproportionate, mass incarceration of Black Americans -- incarceration is a process that involves all three branches of the government.
White Privilege:
In defining what white privilege is, it is necessary to understand what it is not. White privilege is not the suggestion that white people have not experienced struggles, set-backs, poverty, judgment or discrimination, but that those disadvantages were not a fault of our race. White privilege is the understanding that as white people, we have been given a built-in advantage by not being discriminated against for the color of our skin and for this reason, we hold all the power and the better access to power, representation, resources, wealth and care than our non-white counterparts. Understanding white privilege allows us to understand why all people of color are inherently more likely to face set-backs and fall victim to injustices than us.