A collage of images from The Emancipator's 2023 coverage.
A collage of images from The Emancipator’s coverage. Credit: THE EMANCIPATOR

A term guide for a media organization is a set of standards and guidelines that ensures consistent terminology across all content. It outlines the terms we use and do not use. For many media organizations, their term guide is a part of their style guide, which includes rules for punctuation and formatting. Other than where specified, The Emancipator uses the Associated Press style guidance. 

Racist ideas—and other bigoted ideas—have historically been baked into terms. But standards around terminology at mainstream media organizations—or the lack thereof—have too often spread and reproduced racist ideas, propaganda, and falsehoods. At The Emancipator, we stand on our commitments to courageous truth-telling and exposing racist falsehoods. And so, we take our living term guide very seriously.

This guidance pertains to how The Emancipator uses language, but not necessarily quoted material.

Some of these guidelines are widely used. Some are not. The Emancipator updates this living term guide based on the latest research and advocacy.

Our term guide is in alphabetical order. When possible, we provide explanations and links to sources.

Ableism. We do not describe someone as overcoming, suffering from, or afflicted with a disability. We use person-first language (i.e. “someone with a disability”). Some people with disabilities prefer identity-first language (i.e. “disabled person”). If this is the case for an individual or organization being interviewed or otherwise featured, then we defer to their preference and make note of that stated preference in the piece. We avoid the use of ableist terms. Here are some common examples before some possible alternatives:

  • cripple, crippled, crippling, paralyze, paralyzed, paralyzing → freeze, frozen, freezing
  • blinded, blinding [“color-blind” is excepted] → blindfolded, bright
  • deafening → loud
  • crazy, craziness, insane, insanity → hectic, hecticness
  • lame → boring, dull
  • lunacy → unreasonable, outrageous 
  • mentally ill → mentally unwell, have a mental health condition, experiencing a mental health crisis
  • stupid, dumb → perplexing, frustrating, nonsensical, unintelligent

Biracial. We use the terms “biracial” or “multiracial” instead of “mixed-race” or “mulatto.” The term “mulatto” has its origins in racist thought. Historian Francisco Bethencourt notes the emergence of the word in Spain’s American colonies by the seventeenth century. “The word mulatto comes from mule, the offspring of a horse and donkey – an offspring that cannot reproduce. The use of mule as a metaphor for the offspring of mixed couples of blacks and whites was meant not only to undermine the mix of races but also to underline the ‘degeneration’ of human beings and stress the imagined uselessness of the mix.” The term “race-mixing” has ties to segregation and anti-miscegenation laws.

  • mixed-race, mulatto → biracial, multiracial 

Black American and African American. We do not use the term “African American” and “Black American” interchangeably. “African American” refers to a specific ethnic group: the descendants of enslaved people of African descent in the United States. African Americans commonly identify and are racialized as “Black” in the United States. Likewise Jamaican Americans and Ghanaian Americans are racialized as “Black.” And so, “Black American” refers to a specific racial group: African Americans and immigrants of African descent and their U.S.-born descendants. 

Capitalizing racial groups. The Emancipator capitalizes the six racialized identities in the United States: Black, White, Latino, Asian, Middle Eastern and North African (MENA), and Native. We capitalize “Black” and “White” to demonstrate we are referring to a racial group and to distinguish from the colors “black” and “white.” 

  • The Associated Press and many mainstream media organizations capitalize “Black” and not “White.” AP contends that Black people have “strong historical and cultural commonalities” around the world. “That includes the shared experience of discrimination due solely to the color of one’s skin.” At the same time, “White people generally do not share the same history and culture, or the experience of being discriminated against because of skin color.” 
  • AP does not fully comprehend the relationship between race, racism, culture, and history.
    • History. While it is true that White people are generally not subjected to racism, it is not true that White people do not have strong historical commonalities around the world. Just as Black people commonly share the relative experience of racial disadvantage around the world, White people commonly share the relative experience of racial privilege around the world. These racial disadvantages among Black people and racial privileges among White people are different sides of the same history of anti-Black racism and White supremacy. If one identity, thereby, warrants capitalization, then the other does too.
    • Culture. It is true that White people do not share the same culture, as White supremacists contend. It is also true that Black people do not share the same culture, as White supremacists also contend. This notion of a monolithic Black (or White) culture is rooted in a belief in racial essentialism. In fact, the AP’s implied construct of “Black culture” is as racist as the construct of “Black behavior” or “Black genes.” Cultures are products of ethnic groups, not races. Nigerians, Jamaicans, African Americans, Kenyans, Afro-Brazilians, who are often racialized as Black, practice distinct cultures. Just as Russians, Britons, Italians, White Americans, and Australians, who are often racialized as White, practice distinct cultures. There are similarities among the cultures created by Black ethnic groups just as there are similarities among those cultures created by White ethnic groups. And so, if the cultural similarities among Black ethnic groups warrant the capitalization of Black, then the cultural similarities among White ethnic groups warrant capitalization of White as well.
  • There are many people who consider the cultures White ethnic groups to be “civilization” and the history of White people to be “history.” There are many people who imagine White people as the standard of humanity, the norm of humanity—and not just another racial group. Those who consciously or unconsciously standardize White people (and their cultures and history) likely prefer the lowercasing of “white” and capitalizing of “Black.” Because it allows them to racialize Black people and de-racialize White people. It allows them to emphasize Blackness and de-emphasize Whiteness. While some racist ideas over-emphasize Whiteness as a racial construct, other racist ideas de-emphasize Whiteness as a racial construct. The Emancipator does neither, capitalizing both White and Black when referring to race.
  • Many White people imagine themselves as “not racist,” which to them means they are “colorblind,” which to them means they should not acknowledge racial identity, especially their own. They rightfully recognize that from a biological sense, race does not exist. They don’t want to acknowledge, though, that the races do exist socially, born of racism. People are privileged and disadvantaged due to their race. Many White people believe that to acknowledge their racial identity and capitalize White is to be like White supremacists, as the AP attested. In fact, White supremacists acknowledge their White identity and believe in White superiority and supremacy. To be antiracist, by contrast, is to acknowledge one’s racial identity, recognize that the racial groups are equals, and actively work to eradicate the racist policy behind racial inequity and injustice. To be racist is to deny one’s racial identity, deny the privileges or disadvantages one receives from that identity, and deny the policy structure providing those privileges and disadvantages as reflected in racial inequity and injustice.

Colonization. We avoid the language of “discovery.” Historian Ned Blackhawk, a member of the Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone, writes, “Encounter – rather than discovery – must structure America’s origins story.” Approximately 75 million Native peoples” inhabited the Americas in 1492. Christopher Columbus did not “discover” the Americas: Indigenous peoples had been living there for thousands of years. Evidence suggests that Indigenous people have inhabited the Americas for more than 20,000 years. We do not use terms like “savage” and other colonial terminology. In the U.S. context of colonization, we use “colonist” before 1787 (the date of the framing of the U.S. Constitution) and “settler colonist” after 1787. The colonization of all the land of what became the U.S. was technically settler colonialism, but “colonist” typically is not used after 1787. “Settler colonist” distinguishes from pre-1787 “colonists” while also speaking to the violent westward expansion aimed to strip land from Native nations.

Criminal. The system is hardly just, with racial disparities in rates of police violence, arrests, sentencing, and incarceration, to name a few that researchers have documented. More to the point, what is considered a “crime” does not always overlap with what is harmful and violent. Who is labeled a “criminal” by the mainstream media does not always overlap with who is being harmful and violent. Politicians and the judiciary determine what is legal or illegal—what is a “crime” and what is not. Too often, politicians criminalize poverty and disadvantaged groups while de-criminalizing their own policy choices that harm, impoverish, and disadvantage people. When disadvantaged (and advantaged) people engage in harm and violence, they are often objectified as essentially bad people—as “criminals”—who must be caged away like animals. Abolitionist Mariame Kaba writes, there is “no such thing as bad people, only people who sometimes did a bad thing.” But as journalists, we must always cut through political propaganda and humanize everyone, even people who break laws and sit in prisons. Journalists must use people first language. We must use precise and accurate terms.

  • criminal justice system → criminal punishment system, criminal legal system
  • crime → harm or violence
  • drug crime → drug-related harm, drug-related activities
  • violent crime → violence
  • criminal, offender, felon → person accused of breaking the law, person accused of harm, person who caused harm
  • inmate, prisoner → incarcerated person, imprisoned person

Discrimination. We use the term “discrimination” only if expressed by a source. Because racist propagandists commonly claim that racist policies no longer exist. They claim “racism” is largely interpersonal, or affecting individuals, not groups. Since the term “discrimination” connotes an interpersonal injustice, an institution discriminating against a person, or one person discriminating against another, racist propagandas prefer using this term. They also prefer using this term because it connotes intent. All reinforcing their disinformation that racism must be intentional and primarily happens to individuals. This conception of racism allows racist propagandists to argue that diversity, equity, and inclusion programs are “discrimination,” and White individuals are the primary victims of “discrimination.” 

  • racial discrimination → racist policy, racist practice 

Drug and alcohol use. Addiction is a medical condition. Using terms like “addict” and “alcoholic” reduces someone’s identity to their medical condition.

  • addict(s) or alcoholic → person who uses drugs, person with substance use disorder, person in recovery, person with alcohol use disorder

Extremism. We do not use the terms “Islamic” or “Muslim extremist(s)” or “Muslim extremism”; “Christian extremist(s)” or “Christian extremism,” and “Jewish extremist(s) or “Jewish extremism.” Political extremists often cloak their politics in religions. Using religious terminology obfuscates the political ends of terror and endangers believers of that faith tradition. For example, one analysis of religious extremism found that “the term religious extremism engenders negative stereotypes toward particular groups of religious people among the public and policy-makers. This occurs despite frequent warnings that popular (or journalistic) uses of the term “extremism,” associating it with terrorism, might lead to misunderstandings of particular groups.” Instead, we use precise terms that clearly identify actors, organizations, and their political goals. If there is a specific group being discussed, such as the Patriot Front or ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), then we identify that group. 

Food desert. The term “food deserts” makes it seem as if the lack of healthy, affordable food in a neighborhood is a natural phenomenon. But studies show it is historical and structural, as the term “food apartheid” connotes. The activist Karen Washington coined the term “food apartheid.”

  • food desert → food apartheid 

Illegal immigrant. On legal, moral, and historical grounds, we do not use the term “illegal immigrant.” We do not use the dehumanizing term “alien” to refer to immigrants. We do not use the terms “invader” or “internal enemy”—terms reinforcing racist great replacement theory—to refer to immigrants.

  • illegal immigrant, invader, alien → undocumented, non-citizens, without status

LGBTQIA identity. We strive to accurately represent the gender identity and sexual orientation expressed by an individual if relevant to the story and/or requested to be included, and only if consented to. “Heterosexual” is a more neutral term and avoids perpetuating the notion that heterosexual people are on the “straight and narrow” and thus more morally acceptable.

  • straight → heterosexual

Microaggression. We do not use this term. There is nothing “micro” about the aggression that disadvantaged racial groups face on a daily basis. The term can also make these acts—like a clerk following a Black woman in a store as if she’s a suspect—seem like isolated instances. They usually are not. After being followed in the clothing store, the Black woman could get her hair touched on the elevator, and then go into a meeting where her authority as a supervisor is undermined. Aggression after aggression feels like abuse to the victim.

  • microaggression → abuse, racist abuse

Native/Native American and Indigenous. The Emancipator uses “Native” or “Native American” when writing or speaking about the U.S. context, and “Indigenous” when writing or speaking about the Americas more broadly. Whenever possible, we name the specific tribe(s) or nation(s) being discussed and use the name, styling, and terms  preferred by the group or person we are covering. If those names, styling, or terms are not commonly known, we prioritize the Indigenous framing and note the common term in parentheses.

  • Diné (Navajo)
  • Haudenosaunee (Iroquois)
  • Queen Liliuokalani → Queen Liliʻuokalani

People-first framing. We always use people-first framing when discussing racial and ethnic groups. 

  • Blacks → Black people
  • Asians → Asian people
  • Whites → White people

Political labels. We avoid using broad political labels like “right-wing,” “centrist,” “moderate” “liberal,” “leftist,” “conservative,” and other such political terms. The embrace of elements of great replacement theory across the political spectrum reveals the mirage-like nature of broad political labels. Voters and politicians belonging to “center-right,” “center-left,” “leftist,” and “far left” parties subscribe to great replacement theory alongside “far-right” voters and politicians. And while mainstream media organizations commonly use these political labels, readers and viewers do not have shared definitions of these terms. So, these terms confuse more than explain. Instead, we use more precise language describing the specific idea or policy or person at hand. For example, in a story on reproductive justice, instead of calling a politician who opposes abortion a “conservative,” we describe the person as an anti-abortion politician.

Poverty. We do not use terms like “poor people.” Certain races, ethnicities, genders, nations, regions, and communities are not more likely to be “poor” because there are morally or behaviorally “poor.” Terms like “impoverished” or “lower-income” better demonstrate the research findings that poverty is a policy failure rather than a group failure. 

  • poor, poor people → impoverished, lower-income

Protest and demonstration. We do not use the terms “protest” and “demonstration” interchangeably because they are different terms with different meanings. A protest is organizing people for a prolonged campaign that forces power to change a policy or practice. Protests include strikes and boycotts. A demonstration is mobilizing people momentarily to publicize or demonstrate a problem. Demonstrations include rallies and marches.

Race and ethnicity. We make sure to not use race and ethnicity interchangeably, while understanding the relationship between race and ethnicity. All ethnic groups are racialized in the United States (and in most countries around the world). “African American” is an ethnicity that is racialized as Black. “German American” is an ethnicity that is usually racialized as White. “Chinese American” is an ethnicity that is racialized as Asian. “Syrian American” is an ethnicity that is racialized as Middle Eastern and North African (MENA). “Mexican American” is an ethnicity that is racialized as Latino. Choctaws are a tribal group and an ethnic group that is racialized as Native American. But The Emancipator is mindful that these categories are not absolute. There are Black Choctaws. There are Latinos who identify as White and Black. There are Italians who identify as MENA. There are White Kenyans. There are Asian Jamaicans. 

Race- or Racially-. Mainstream media organizations commonly use the rigid binary developed by racist propagandists of racist vs. not racist, and race-conscious vs. race-neutral. Often, their standards departments consider it to be “political” to describe something or someone as “racist.” So, mainstream media organizations use a series of obfuscating terms and phrases that often contain the words “race” or “racially,” while believing their use of these muddying terms and phrases are not political. At The Emancipator, we are not striving to be “political” or “apolitical” if the latter is possible. We are striving for accuracy. In our focus on accuracy, we employ terms accurately—descriptive terms like “racist” and “antiracist.” We use the flexible binary developed by antiracist scholars: racist and antiracist. As these scholars have documented, we understand that people across time and space commonly identify as “not racist” when they say or do something that’s racist. We understand that no policies are “race-blind” or “race-neutral” when we study their outcomes. We understand that policies either lead to racial inequity/injustice (racist) or racial equity/justice (antiracist). We understand that racial ideas either connote racial hierarchy (racist) or racial equality (antiracist). We understand a person can express an idea of racial hierarchy (being racist), or support a policy that is leading to racial inequity or injustice with their inaction or actions (being racist). We understand a person can express an idea of racial equality (being antiracist), or actively support a policy that is leading to racial equity or justice (being antiracist). We seek to accurately describe an idea, a policy, and a person as such.

  • race-neutral/-blind/-based/-conscious (when toward equity or justice) → antiracist
  • race-neutral/-blind/-based/-conscious (when toward inequity or injustice) → racist 
  • racially- (when expressing racial hierarchy) → racist 
  • racially- (when expressing racial equality) → antiracist

Racist and antiracist. These are descriptors, or adjectives, rather than fixed or permanent identities, or nouns. When the evidence or context warrants it, we describe ideas and policies, or the actions of an individual, as racist or antiracist. We recognize that a person can express an ideal of racial hierarchy (and thereby be racist) in one moment, and support a policy leading to equity (and thereby be antiracist) in the next moment.  

  • racists → racist individuals
  • antiracists → antiracist scholars
  • is a racist → was being racist
  • is an antiracist → was being antiracist

Racist and racism. We do not use the terms “racism” and “racist” interchangeably. “Racism” connotes what is structural, systemic, institutional, connected, or plural: a powerful collection of racist policies justified by a series of racist ideas. “Racist” connotes what is individual or singular, such as a single (racist) policy or idea, or a single person who is being racist.  A group of people can engage in racism, while an individual can be racist.

Riot and rebellion. We use “riot” to refer to situations in which people flippantly and hatefully engage in violence, concealing the structural and ideological causes that drive people to violent political actions. We use “rebellion” or “uprising” to describe a violent political campaign or war that seeks to conserve or challenge racism or the unequal status quo.

  • riot → rebellion, uprising

Civil War. The use of the term “Civil War” to describe the 1861-1865 conflict between the Union and Confederacy reflects Confederate sympathizers’ attempts to obscure the reality that Confederates committed treason against their own government in defense of slavery. While we will occasionally use the term “Civil War” to provide clarity for our readers, we prefer the more accurate term “rebellion.” This is the term used by the U.S. government in its official war records. Frederick Douglass called it the “Slaveholders’ Rebellion.” We call it the “Enslavers’ Rebellion.”

  • Civil War → Enslavers’ Rebellion

Slavery. The terms “slave” and “slaveholder” erase history. These terms convey an almost static station, erasing the constant struggle to force people to labor against their will. The terms “enslave,” “enslaver,” “enslaved,” and “enslavement” better convey the persistent force needed to keep people in bondage because the people constantly resisted. 

  • slave(s) → enslaved 
  • slaveholder → enslaver
  • slave society/societies → enslaving society/societies
  • slave auction → human auction
  • slave markets → markets for the buying and selling of enslaved people
  • slave trade/trader → human trade/trader
  • slave ships → floating prisons, ships, ships carrying enslaved people
  • fugitive slave → runaway person/woman/man
  • slave revolt(s)/rebellion(s) → freedom revolt(s)/rebellion(s)
  • plantation → forced-labor camp, slavery camp

White supremacist and White nationalist and pro-White and racist. We do not use “White supremacist” and “White nationalist” and “racist” interchangeably. We rarely use the term “pro-White” to refer to White supremacists and White nationalists.

  • White supremacist. We use “White supremacist” to refer to organizations and individuals who advocate for the economic, cultural, and political supremacy of White people across the globe. White supremacists usually oppose peoples of color in positions of policymaking power. While White supremacists are striving to build solidarity for White rule worldwide, White nationalists seek to build solidarity for White rule of the country.
  • White nationalist. We use “White nationalist” to refer to individuals and organizations who are advocating for an ethno-state where White people rule the nation. White nationalists usually oppose the existence of peoples of color in the nation-state, or desire their populations to be reduced significantly, and/or reduced to servitude. When individuals and organizations are supportive of both global White supremacy and White ethno-states, we identify them based on the focus of their advocacy or the focus of the story.
  • Pro-White. While White supremacists and White nationalists commonly self-identify as “pro-White,” the policies and practices of the oligarchs they often support are actually harming most low-and-middle-income White people.
  • Racist. While all White supremacists and White nationalists are racist, not all racist people are White supremacists or White nationalists. To be racist is to articulate ideas of racial hierarchy or support policies that lead to racial inequity or injustice. Some racist people, for example, defend policies and practices that lead to racial inequity while also supporting the integration of peoples of color and the desegregation of positions of power.