
09/01/2025
Many of the words we use to signal inclusion are shaped by histories we rarely name, histories of empire, racial categorisation, and colonial systems that marked whose lives were worth naming in the first place. Terms like “ethnic food,” “diverse candidates,” or “non-white” might seem harmless or even progressive, but they often reinforce whiteness as the unspoken norm.
It's important to ask:
"Whose reality is being centered here?"
"Who is being described from the outside in?"
If we want to build truly inclusive communities, we need to move beyond performative swaps and toward a deeper commitment to naming with care, complexity, and intention.