Vocabulary associated with describing marginalized communities is constantly evolving to encompass increasingly diverse groups and represent ever-changing societal values. Since the protests for social justice in the summer of 2020, these phrases, what some call progressive terminology, have received heightened attention as many people try to enact change through their words.
Even before the summer of 2020, many of these so-called progressive words were being used among some groups on campus. “I didn’t start using the language until freshman year [in 2019–20],” said Adama Sowe ’23. “In middle school, I’d never heard of any of these terms, even though I went to a predominately Black and Hispanic school. I got here, and I went to SDLC [Student Diversity Leadership Conference] where I learned terms such as BIPOC that I was never taught.”
During that summer, social media accounts such as @BlackatChoate and @QueeratChoate greatly affected the community with the stories they shared and the words that they chose to use. For example, many of @BlackatChoate’s posts used the term ‘BIPOC’ [Black, Indigenous, People of Color] instead of ‘POC,’ and the bio of @QueeratChoate’s Instagram account reads “an anonymous safe space for LGBTQIA+ [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual, with the ‘+’ allowing for additional inclusivity] members of the Choate community,” rather than the once-prevalent “LGBTQ.”
Since then, the drive for the use of more progressive terminology has been reflected in the wider Choate community. “Last year specifically had a spike in social activism — people were concerned about how they were perceived,” said Noah McBride ’23.
These terms have further permeated the community via recent all-school gatherings, where faculty members and students alike use the words to describe the experiences of minority groups, or even to name events, such as the Community Conversation on “Hispanic/Latinx Identity.” Additionally, this publication’s official style guide now advises using the abbreviation “LGBTQIA+” and capitalizing the word “Black” — another widespread syntactic shift.
However, as such vocabulary receives more attention, people around the world have argued that these new “inclusive” terms have become a code used only by a small, highly educated group in the country. This trend feels applicable to Choate, a community marked by both its diversity and privilege. Even though these terminologies can provide support for students, some have criticized what they believe is misguided usage of progressive terminology.
McBride, for instance, is slightly skeptical of the intention behind the usage of these newly popular terms in communities like Choate. “The term ‘BIPOC’ is supposed to be more specific to groups that are disproportionately impacted in America, instead of just ‘POC,’ but there are still some issues with it. I think some people might use the term to pass themselves off as educated,” he said.
Additionally, the word “Latinx,” which is intended to be a progressive, gender-neutral term that replaces “Latino” or “Latina,” has been met with scrutiny lately.
Ixchel Hernandez ’23 said, “Honestly, I rarely use ‘Latinx,’ because I feel like the term doesn’t fit Spanish too well. The term was made by ‘woke’ activists in the United States as a way to make gender-neutral terms in the Spanish language, but it was done without taking into account that the letter ‘x’ is rarely used in our language.”
In the past, HLF stood for the Hispanic-Latinx Forum, but Hernandez and other cabinet members began to question whether the club’s name accurately represented its membership. “We changed our club name to the Hispanic-Latiné Forum last spring, and that’s when I noticed a lot more people, myself included, started using that term [Latiné] instead of Latinx,” she said. According to Hernandez, Latiné — still an ungendered term — flows much better in Spanish.
To mitigate any unintended harm, some teachers have begun to actively convey how and why they use these words. Associate Dean of Equity and Inclusion Mr. Filipe Camarotti said, “We have to understand why we do the things we do … I think there’s the part of saying the right thing [but also] going deeper why saying the right thing is right.”
Mr. Camarotti believes that this deeper understanding goes beyond seeing these words in official announcements and emails. “The understanding of the right term to use requires learning about a person’s story [and] knowing about their identity,” he said. “By giving them the opportunities to express how they identify both implicitly and explicitly, then you’ll know how they want to be identified and referred to.”
He believes that teachers should feel comfortable having open dialogues with their students about which terms best encapsulate the students’ identities. He said, “I share stories about my life and ask to hear stories about their lives. Through having many of these conversations and establishing a level of trust, I have noticed that people open up and share many aspects of their identity — not because I’m explicitly asking, but because it tends to naturally come up.”
The point of these terms, many students emphasized, is not to make oneself appear “woke.” “It doesn’t have to be some grand gesture on social media, but you have to be constantly working to help achieve those goals,” said McBride. “When change needs to happen, simply supporting isn’t enough. It should be a constant struggle against whatever you’re trying to help fix.”
However, progressive terminology is constantly evolving — there is not one eternally perfect word to best represent identities on what is, fundamentally, an individual level. Mr. Camarotti said, “Language and terminology that reflects a person’s identity [is] really positive and necessary in order for us to see people how they want to be seen.”
