I appropriated the title of this post from an article written by Halimah Abdullah and published on abc.go.news. I recommend reading Halimah Abdullah's article. More than that, I challenge you to read it and then reflect on your understanding of the terms. For me, the examples provided by the author paired with the definitions helped to bring clarity to the words and their meaning. I realized that I had a decent (not excellent) grasp of some of them and was misunderstanding others.
If I, a white person, is to be an ally I have a lot of work to do on many levels. I have to understand much more about who I am and the ways that I contribute to racism. Implicit bias is real. If I am going to confront racism in my life, in my work, or in my communities, I need to understand the terminology. Otherwise my words are just lip service.
Words matter. The meanings of the words matter more. If Merriam-Webster can admit to not being done with the learning, so can I. The editors at Merriam-Webster listened when Kennedy Mitchum, demonstrated that their definition of racism was incomplete leading some to point to the definition as proof that they were not part of the problem.
The dictionary story highlights the need to be critical of our sources of information. So I did some Internet research on Halimah Abdullah in an effort to support my acceptance of her definitions. I could not find any personal website. I did find numerous references to her as a respected journalist and author. Here's one. In the end I decided that, as a woman of color, her words carry the weight of lived experiences.
Keep Smiling Keep Moving (and Keep Learning)
-Paula
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