Glossary of terms

Many white people would say 'I'm not a racist' and yet silence and passivity in response to inequality means that we are complicit with racism, and by implication, racist. Many are beginning to argue that the only choice is between being a racist and an anti-racist. If we are silent when we need to speak out, passive when we need to be active, we implicitly support the racist staus quo. See blog: 'Confessions of a Racist' (javascript:void(0))for further thoughts.

From the Cambridge English Dictionary: "a way of behaving in a society or group, especially on social media, in which it is common to completely reject and stop supporting someone because they have said or done something that offends you: The main argument against cancel culture is that it doesn’t enable people who have wronged society the opportunity to apologize and learn from their mistakes".

A term coined by author Alice Walker in her 1983 book 'In search of our mothers' gardens'. Walker defined colourism as the "prejudicial or preferential treatment of same-race people based solely in their colour". Colourism is where prejudicial treatment is given to darker-skinned black people and people of colour and preferential treatment is given to lighter-skinned black people and people of colour (from 'Me and White Supremacy' by Layla Saad). Meanwhile the sales of skin lightening products are projected to increase from $4.8 billion in 2017 to $8.9 billion in 2027.(https://www.statista.com/statistics/863876/global-forecasted-market-value-of-skin-lightening-products/) A number have been found to contain harmful levels of mercury.

The use and meaning of this phrase (in sociological terms) has developed in two contexts. Originally in the civil rights movement of the 1960's it referred to an ideal state in society in which the colour of someone's skin did not lead to discriminatory practices on unequal opportunities. More recently, it has been used in a more negative context to describe the view from white people that your skin colour is irrelevant:"I don't see you as black - just as a human being" - ostensibly presented as a compliment but, in effect, denying their black identity and experience and often concealing unconscious bias against those with black, brown and yellow skin.

Layla Saad calls this 'a modern type of colonisation that involves the appropriation and sometimes commercialisation of cultural practices, spiritual traditions, hair and dress fashion styles, and other cultural elements'. In her book 'So you want to talk about race', Ijeoma Oluo defines it as "the adoption or exploitation of another culture by a more dominant culture." It is a complex area, and not one easily boiled down to definitive lists of what is or isn't cultural appropriation. But it may often show a lack of understanding or respect for the cultural significance of that practice, a lack of acknowledgement of its origins, a lack of compensation paid to those who I am puchasing those cultural elements from.

Author and founder of Mama Glow, a premier maternity lifetsyle brand defined optical allyship as "allyship that only serves at the surface level to platform the 'ally', it makes a statement but doesn't go beneath the surface and is not aimed at breaking away from the systems of power that oppress". It can often be intended to avoid being called a racist and/or to receive a reward through social recognition, praise and acknowledgement. The act of allyship involves no real risk. It is performed from the safety of one's comfort zone of privilege and doesn't involve any of the deep work needed to confront our deep-seated biases and white privilege. - based on material from Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad.

Defined by the Oxford Dictionary as "the practice of making only a perfunctory or symbolic effort to do a particular thing, especially by recruiting a small number of people from under-representated groups in order to give the appearance of sexual or racial equality within a workforce". (from Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad)

Layla Saad defines this as: "a tactic used by those who have white privilege to silence those who do not by focusing on the tone of what is being said rather than the actual content". Sometimes we as white people can bizarrely expect those that have suffered deep racial trauma to express their painful experiences in calm and neutral tones rather than with some appropriate anger and upset, because it is difficult for us to hear. Martin Luther King jr once said: "Riots do not develop out of thin air. Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots...a riot is the language of the unheard."

The phrase ‘virtue signalling’ was coined by The Spectator journalist James Bartholomew in 2015 in reference to "the way in which many people say or write things to indicate that they are virtuous." Bartholomew says: "One of the crucial aspects of virtue signalling is that it does not require actually doing anything virtuous...It takes no effort or sacrifice at all.” Since the death of George Floyd, many individual white people, including many white political and organisational leaders have made fine sounding statements aimed at communicating that 'Black lives matter', and may even have joined demonstrations at the time. But how willing are many white people to ongoing action that addresses chronic inequalities? It's a question many people of colour are asking.

The combining of tourism and volunteering to 'do some good' while you are visiting another country. This practice has come under increasing criticism in recent years and is often associated with 'white saviourism' which perpetuates a mindset that people in poverty need to be rescued rather than given the resources they need to fulfil their potential. The popularity of volunteering in orphanages has actually led to an increased number of orphanages to meet the demand. British charity Lumos (https://www.wearelumos.org/)suggests that 80% of children in these orphanages have a living parent that have given their children up - seeing this as the best way of giving their children a good start in life. These orphanages often survive due to foreign donations and foreign volunteers who come to do some good. But they in fact just perpetuate the harmful institutionalisation of children. They also take money away from potential aid. This aid would enable families to look after their own children and thus keep the family together. Some have become centres of child trafficking and child labour. See this analysis by volunteering agency Globalteer (https://www.globalteer.org/voluntourism/)of the pros and cons of voluntourism.

The belief, which may be unconscious, that 'whiteness' - our feelings, beliefs, values and practices as white people - are 'the norm' and anything else is foreign and 'other'.

A phrase coined by Robin Diangelo, white author of a book with this title. She defines it as "a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves". She goes on to say: "It is white people's responsibility to be less fragile; people of colour don't need to twist themselves into knots trying to navigate us as painlessly as possible". See the 'Racism and me' (javascript:void(0))padlet board (a white allies network members' only resource) for more video and written resources on this topic.

A phrase coined by Peggy McIntosh in her 1988 paper: "White privilege and Male privilege" and defined as follows: "I have come to see white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was 'meant' to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible knapsack of special provisions, assurances, tools, maps, guides, codebooks, passports, visa, clothes, compass, emergency gear and blank cheques".

'White saviourism' is a white mindset that believes people with black and brown skin, the global majority, need white people to save them. That without our help, they will be left helpless and unable to survive. Our white history tends to portray William Wilberforce in such a role in the abolition of slavery. But our white history lessons have ignored the far greater role and sacrifice of enslaved people such as Sam Sharpe, Mary Prince, Phyllis Wheatley, Ottobah Cugoano and Olaudah Equiano and many hundreds more who gave their lives to force the issue and prepare the ground for abolition. The Comic Relief and Band Aid initiatives have more recently been criticised for perpetuating this impression. They have since adjusted their emphasis away from white celebrities being filmed in poverty-stricken contexts to 'save' people and more towards helping to fund projects where indigenous people help themselves. ​ See also Voluntourism.

A term to describe the silence of white people in response to racist behaviour, systemic racism and racial disadvantage. Such passivity just results in inequality never being addressed. Many white people would say 'I'm not a racist' and yet silence and passivity in response to inequality means that we are complicit with racism, and by implication, racist. 'Silence is Violence' has become a common slogan on demonstration placards since the death of George Floyd, drawing attention to our complicity when we don't speak out and don't take action. Many are beginning to argue that the only choice is between being a racist and an anti-racist. If we are silent when we need to speak out, we implicitly support the racist staus quo. As Martin Luther King put it: "Our lives begin to end when we become silent on the things that matter".

This was a phrase previously used for the most extreme, violent and overtly racist groups such as the Klu Klux Klan who peddled the view that white people are a superior race. The earliest written record we have of this view appears in the15th Century in the writings of a Portuguese royal courtier, Gomez de Zurara, who expressed this view as a justification for switching the slave trade from white eastern europeans (slavs) to black Africans. This is also seen as the origins of the concept of different human races based on physical characteristics rather than one human race. It has more recently been used as a provocative term to get white people to see that we all benefit from, and passively help perpetuate, a system that favours white people and effectively communicates that we are superior. It is argued that many white people hold that belief unconsciously, programmed by our white histories and by a white-centric media.

Definition from the Cambridge English Dictionary: "Aware, especially of social problems such as racism and inequality: eg 'She urged young black people to stay woke'. Or disapprovingly: 'He said that many of these so-called woke individuals never actually engage with the marginalized groups they claim to defend'."