Intersectionality
“Intersectionality” or “intersectional” have become buzzwords in postmodern conversations about anti-ism work to fight things like racism, sexism, queerphobia, and transphobia. Coined in 1989 by American critical legal race scholar Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, this theoretical framework seeks to acknowledge and debunk racial and other systemic -ism-based mythologies that say we are only “insert identity” and therefore only experience one type of privilege or marginalization. We contain multitudes, inside and outside of our racial, socioeconomic, gender, disability, and sexuality-based identities, and that’s just the tip of the conversation. Dr. W.E.B. Dubois touched on this concept when discussing how Black men were both men and Black, and – while complex and distorted as the history of this speech is – Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I A Woman” speech is one of the earliest known speeches discussing what we could now call “intersectionality” discussing Black women’s dehumanization in regard to race and gender. This framework is essentially asking us to name the problems; see how they overlap for people, communities, and systems, regarding both privilege and marginalization; and to move forward with policies, mindsets, and cultural and structural shifts that dismantle the hierarchies across identities and lived experience.
Inclusion
Inclusion, in an IIDEAA-sense, means to add people into conversations, situations, and actions that we take individually and collectively to a society Inclusion is the active bringing-in people and communities, and institutions that societies have historically and actively ignored, marginalized, penalized, or dehumanized and giving them the literal and figurative “mic” and allowing them to be seen and heard in critical, compassionate, and thoughtful that doesn’t just tick a box on a list. We are all people and communities that have interesting and complex histories, stories, thoughts, feelings, needs, and wants so we deserve to be included in thoughtful ways that empower us and develop empathy and critical thinking. It goes hand in hand with accessibility (we can’t be included if we cannot physically, emotionally, or literally access the information, spaces, and entities). We deserve to see ourselves in mirrors and others in windows in society.
Diversity
Diversity is another buzzword that people often think they can “do” once, and they’ve achieved “diversity”. For instance, bringing in BIPOC folks or people of the Global majority, gender marginalized people, disabled or chronically ill people, and poor or working-class people into situations where there was not any prior thought, action, nor changes made to accommodate their complex wholeness brings thesepeople into a burning building and asks them to survive or thrive. Diversity is a noun that needs continuous, thoughtful action behind it to be achieved. Diversity is seeing you, your communities, and your lived experiences in media and society in ways that aim to tell your histories, truths, and lived experiences. Diversity seeks to empower people in systems that support you in being your best self; and in situations that allow you to come in your multitudes.
Equity
Equality is generally the even distribution of resources to individuals and communities. However, as we learned in the Intersectionality lesson, linked below, we contain multitudes, regarding many things, including marginalized and privileged identities, and that adjusts the resources we need to access different things. That leads us to equity and justice. Equity is the distribution of resources that allows individuals and communities to access things like medical care, education, food and water, housing, and other needed things to thrive in societies and situations relative to their means, needs, and wants in society. However, to me, justice models are just the long-term and sustainable implementation of equity measures, which makes the difference between the two somewhat arbitrary, as we should implement IIDEAA measures forever and always because human error and the mindset of systems that do not want to change to benefit all people and communities affected by them will require us to be vigilant in our love, support, and fight for each other’s well being and livelihood. Equality is not the goal, liberation and justice are.
Accessibility
Accessibility is always diminished to just “ADA-compliance” in regard to physical disability. This is an incorrect definition as the ADA is a not fully fleshed out nor comprehensive series of laws that people break or find ways to subvert on a regular basis. Wheelchairs, service animals, masking, and other mobility or emotional aids should be accessible in buildings; transportation systems, and other in-person spaces. The ADA requires the minimum and is not enough for physically, emotionally, or mentally disabled people who need to be able to walk into any given situation and know how they will be able to access that information to thrive. Also, accessibility is not just literal physical or emotional access, but financial access as in does it cost money at any point in time; institutional access as in do you need an education, prior resources or achievements to access the space; and time and spatial access as in does it require you to be somewhere specific and how it is accessible (close by, online, far away, only accessible by boat). Accessibility, at its most inclusive, is how we create spaces that are open to everyone as they are and get the same treatment, information, and resources that individuals and communities need.
Accountability
Accountability is apology and atonement combined in action. Accountability is a victims’-feelings-first apology that names the harm and the harm-doers’ specific changed behavior that will be rooted in the person, community, or system that caused the harm changing for the collective and individual better. So, interpersonally, it can be something like “I apologize for causing you distress and harming you. These are the actions I’m going to take to be better. Despite where it came from, I need to do better, and I will. Please forgive me if you can.” The survivor; the victims; or the people and communities harmed can say “no” because that is their prerogative, but the harm-doers still must change. Accountability is as much for the people and systems who cause harm as it is for the people harmed. Changed behavior is the only way to heal ourselves and the systems created around us. Accountability for gender marginalized people on a systemic level might be financial and legislative restitution and policies for transgender and gender expansive communities who are under attack by cisheteronormative patriarchal attitudes; changing K-12 curriculum to include age-appropriate lessons that teach LGBTQ history, sexual health beyond the cisnormative, and queer and trans culture as well as how to empathize with cis women and trans and gender expansive folks; and guaranteeing housing and gender-inclusive healthcare for all. Accountability isn’t punishment necessarily; sometimes, it’s an invitation to do better, with or without the victims being present. It is restorative or transformative, depending on the given circumstances before and during the harm.
Artemis Montague - Reflections on A Life Renewed 