{"id":782,"date":"2023-04-01T07:47:19","date_gmt":"2023-04-01T05:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/?p=782"},"modified":"2023-04-01T07:47:20","modified_gmt":"2023-04-01T05:47:20","slug":"our-words-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/?p=782","title":{"rendered":"Our Words Matter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- Facebook Like Button Vivacity Infotech BEGIN -->\n<div class=\"fb-like\" data-href=\"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/?p=782\" data-layout=\"standard\" data-action=\"like\" data-show-faces=\"false\" data-size=\"small\" data-width=\"450\" data-share=\"\" ><\/div>\n<!-- Facebook Like Button Vivacity Infotech END -->\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"940\" height=\"529\" src=\"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-783\" srcset=\"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image.png 940w, https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-768x432.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 940px) 100vw, 940px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>On 23 March 2023, I was invited to speak at the European Parliament\nDirectorate-General for Personnel&#8217;s hybrid event to observe the International\nDay for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The theme was \u201cAnti-Racism\n\u2013Why words matter\u201d.<em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Some of the things I said were: <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Classifying individuals as\nEnglish speakers and non-English speakers is inappropriate when based only on the\nlanguage of the country they come from. They should be described as people with\na &#8220;<strong>First Language Spoken Other Than\nEnglish<\/strong>\u201d and \u201c<strong>First Language Spoken\nEnglish<\/strong>\u201d. If you want to refer to their spoken English proficiency, describe\nthem as \u201cSpeaks English Very Well, Fluent, or Proficient, \u201cSpeaks English Well\nor Conversational\u201d, \u201cBasi\u0441&#8221;, or &#8220;No English Language Skill&#8221;. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur, Their, Us, and Them\u201d are pronouns that should be used wisely, as\nthey can be polarising. They affect feelings, thoughts, and actions. Whereas,\nsocial cohesion reduces fear and prejudice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Race is ascribed to individuals based on physical traits; it\u2019s not their\nchoice. Race is not the same as ethnicity, which the individual chooses,\nencompassing everything from language to nationality, culture and traditions,\nreligion, and values. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Race has no coherent, fixed definition, and its myth hasn\u2019t served\nhumanity well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We use \u201cblacklist\u201d for something negative or prohibited. Doesn\u2019t this\nreinforce notions that black is undesirable while white is desirable? How about\nusing &#8220;barredlist&#8221;, &#8220;denylist&#8221;, &#8220;blockedlist&#8221;, or\n\u201cdisallowedlist\u201d instead?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Are there prejudicial and offensive words and phrases in your language?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>&#8220;Gyp&#8221; or &#8220;Gip&#8221; is a short version of gypsy\/gipsy- Slang for swindlers and cheaters. Dupe, rip off, take advantage, or trick<\/li><li>\u201cChop Chop!&#8221; sounds like you\u2019re making fun of a Chinese speaking Pidgin English. Do it quickly<\/li><li>\u201cGuru\u201d &#8211; A spiritual guide or leader. In the Buddhist and Hindu traditions, \u201cguru\u201d commands respect and using it casually calls into question its original value. <\/li><li>Voodoo economics is used to describe supply-side economics (i.e. something based on unreal and impractical concepts).  Voodoo is a religion\u00a0practised\u00a0in Haiti and parts of the Caribbean.<\/li><li>An immigrant is a human being; a human being cannot be illegal. Why not use \u201cIndividual\/family\/people with undocumented status\u201d; or focus on the action, i.e. illegal entry? <\/li><li> &#8220;Alien\u201d and \u201cforeigner\u201d suggest that the person does not belong to a particular place or group, i.e. a stranger or outsider.  &#8220;Foreign-born people&#8221; tells you they were born in a country where they don&#8217;t currently reside.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Issues on ethnic slurs or racism in the workplace:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Is there psychological safety in the workplace?<\/li><li>No individual target; no one complains about it. (Someone may perceive this as such and become unproductive due to offended sensibilities). <\/li><li>An isolated incident may be repeated and can become a norm. <\/li><li>It\u2019s only a joke\/just for fun. Humour and jokes can poster or improve group cohesiveness. Laughing and smiling relieve anger, boredom, fatigue, frustration, and tension. However, when the workplace is inundated with such practices and management implicitly or explicitly condones them, making at least one employee uncomfortable, it has to stop. The bottom line is respecting the words and feelings of everyone.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Words matter!\nLanguage is the foundation of how we understand and treat each other. Words can\nmake the difference between respecting and dehumanising each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On 23 March 2023, I was invited to speak at the European Parliament Directorate-General for Personnel&#8217;s hybrid event to observe the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The theme was \u201cAnti-Racism \u2013Why words matter\u201d. Some of the things I said were: Classifying individuals as English speakers and non-English speakers is inappropriate when based &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/?p=782\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Our Words Matter<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,25,1,92],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-immigration-and-multiculturalism","category-language","category-social-political-cultural-economic-issues","category-values-and-principles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=782"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":785,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782\/revisions\/785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roladesocietalblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}