Two key concepts

Microaggression: brief, commonplace, subtle or blatant indignities whether intentional or unintentional, that create a hostile environment or one creating negative racial slights against people of color.

Intersectionality: a prism by which to see various forms of discrimination and disempowerment.

The theory that examines identity not through a simple binary but through the over-lapping lens of race, gender, sexual orientation, class, and national origin, i.e., intersections. [1]

The work of Kimberle Crenshaw Williams is a fundamental place to start, as Professor Williams invented the term and theory that Justice Equity Design uses.

We must acknowledge that identity is the holistic framework by which we view the world.

We do so by moving beyond a simply memorization of a lexicon of anti-racist terms to move toward mindful racial literacy. The major tool for this is by becoming versed in a narrative-shifting process that privileges community of color. We’ll be practicing this as we go on.

[1] Crenshaw, Kimberlé Williams; Gotanda, Neil; Peller, Gary; Thomas, Kendall, eds. (1996). “Introduction.” Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings that Formed the Movement. New York City: The New Press.

Williams, Patricia J. (1991). The Alchemy of Race and Rights: Diary of a Law Professor. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.