Conversations about race from a place of learning are really encouraged and having a shared and understood lexicon about our terms on race equality is just one part of our work to becoming an anti-racist organisation.
We use the terms Black, South Asian, South East and East Asian. If we have more information, we’ll say a person is of:
- Caribbean, and Afro-Caribbean heritage
- African heritage
- South Asian heritage
- East Asian heritage
- South East Asian heritage
- Middle Eastern heritage
- North African heritage
Other marginalised communities include people of:
- Indigenous heritage
- Irish traveller heritage
- Jewish heritage
- Latinx heritage
- Romany heritage
- West and Central Asian heritage
Other terms we use
Black and Global Majority
When referring to people’s ethnicity, we encourage people to be specific rather homogenous. We prefer language that defines racialised minoritised populations in their own terms, not in reference to whiteness.
When there might be good reason to group experiences and communities together, such as data collection, we will use the term Black and Global Majority as we feel it encompasses shared experiences without marginalisation. We use the term Black (capital B) because it addresses anti-blackness. The darker your skin, the more inequality you experience in the UK. The ‘B’ is always capitalised to reaffirm the identity and status of Black people.
We use the term Global Majority because it is a collective term that first and foremost speaks to, and encourages, those so-called to think of themselves as belonging to the majority on planet earth. It refers to people who are Black, African, Asian, Brown, dual-heritage, indigenous to the global south, and/or have been racialised as ‘ethnic minorities’. Globally these groups currently represent approximately eighty per cent (80%) of the world’s population, making them the global majority.
GRT
Refers to Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller communities.
SWANA
Refers to groups who are Southwest Asian and North African (previously Middle East).
People of Colour or POC
These terms are accepted but not preferred, and similarly the term ‘Queer, Transgender, and Intersex People of Colour’ or ‘QTIPOC’ is accepted but specificity is preferred.
Hispanic, Latin(a/o), Latinx, Latine
Hispanic refers to those who speak Spanish globally; with reference to Latin America specifically, not everyone speaks Spanish (e.g. in Brazil, the official language is Portuguese).
Latino and Latina are gendered whereas ‘Latinx’ can be used as a gender-neutral or nonbinary term inclusive of all genders. The term ‘Latinx’ might be preferred by those originating from Latin America, including Brazil. Some argue that the letter ‘x’ does not honour Spanish pronunciation and prefer the use of ‘e’ instead. Latine, created by LGBTQIA+ communities, uses the letter ‘e’ to illustrate gender inclusivity within existing Spanish pronunciation.
Indigenous
Indigenous is a term which the official definition is not agreed on, but the United Nations has developed an understanding of the term based on self-identification; historical continuity to precolonial and/or presettler societies; links to territories and resources; distinct social, economic, and political systems; and possession of distinct languages, cultures, and beliefs: When speaking about Indigenous Peoples around the world use the names that they call themselves. In general, refer to an Indigenous group as a ‘people’ or ‘nation’ rather than as a ‘tribe’.
Indigenous land acknowledgment is an effort to recognize the Indigenous past, present, and future of a particular location and to understand our own place within that relationship. Usually, land acknowledgments take the form of written or verbal statements.