Glossary of Terms

Anti-Arab Bias: Prejudice, discrimination, stereotyping, or hostility directed at individuals or communities because they are Arab or perceived to be Arab, based on ethnicity, language, culture, or national origin.

Anti-Asian Hate: Bias, discrimination, or violence directed at individuals or communities of Asian descent, often fueled by xenophobia or racial stereotyping.

Anti-Black Racism: Policies, practices, beliefs, or actions that reinforce inequity, dehumanization, or discrimination against Black people. Anti-Black racism is rooted in historical and systemic oppression and continues to shape educational experiences today.

Anti-LGBTQ+ Bias: Discrimination, harassment, or exclusion based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.

Antisemitism: Hatred, discrimination, fear, and prejudice directed toward Jews as individuals or as a group.

Artsakh Genocide: Invasion of the ethnic Armenian region by Azerbaijan, resulting in the displacement of 100% of the Armenian population from their indigenous homelands.

Anti-Armenia hate by Azerbaijan: Government-sponsored propaganda and “education” that actively promotes the hatred of Armenians by Azeri civilians and military.

Armenian Genocide: The systemic killing of ethnic Armenians by the Turkish government of the Ottoman Empire during and following WWI. From 1915-1923, approximately 1.5 million Armenians, half of the population living in their historic homeland, were systematically murdered, their personal and community properties stolen, and thousands more were removed from their indigenous homeland.

Armenophobia: The hatred of and discrimination against Armenians, both as an ethnic group and as a religious minority in the Middle East and South Caucasus.

Armenian Genocide denial: Actions and statements by the Turkish government and other members of society intended to defy the evidence and facts that the Ottoman Empire (precursor to the Turkish state) committed genocide against its Armenian subjects during WWI.

Blood Libel: Perpetuated accusation that Jews have murdered non-Jews (such as Christian children) in order to use their blood in rituals.

Dehumanization: The process of viewing or treating people as less than fully human, often by denying their dignity, agency, or moral worth—a psychological and social mechanism that can justify exclusion, discrimination, and violence.

Discrimination: Unlawful, unequal treatment of an individual or group based on protected characteristics such as race, religion, national origin, gender identity, or sexual orientation—particularly in education, employment, or access to services.

Fascism: A mass political movement that originated in Italy in the early 1900s and spread. Typical hallmarks of fascism include extreme nationalism, supremacy of the nation over the individual, and militarism.

Genocide: Outlined by the United Nations in Article II of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948), a genocide is the following acts committed with the intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, in whole or in part: (a) Killing members of the group, (b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, (c) deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s physical destruction, (d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group,and/or (e) forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

“Globalize the Intifada”: A phrase using the Arabic word for “uprising” or “shaking off,” whose message encourages resistance, most prominently in the form of violence, against Israel. Calls to “globalize” contribute to the targeting of Jews, Israelis, and institutions that support Israel around the world.

Hate Crime: A criminal act motivated by bias against a protected group. Hate crimes involve law enforcement and formal legal processes.

Hate Incident: An act motivated by bias or hostility toward a protected group that may not rise to the level of a crime, but still causes harm and requires a school response (e.g., slurs, symbols, harassment).

Holocaust: The systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of 6,000,000 European and North African Jews by the Nazi regime and its allies and collaborators; the Nazis also targeted other groups for persecution and murder, including Roma and Sinti, people with disabilities, some Slavic peoples (especially Poles and Russians), Black people, communists, socialists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, gay men, and people the Nazis called “asocials” and “professional criminals.”

Holocaust Denial / Distortion: An attempt to negate the facts of the Nazi genocide of the Jewish people; a belief that the Holocaust did not happen or was greatly exaggerated.

Humanization: An instructional approach that centers people as complex individuals with lives, relationships, choices, and dignity—rather than defining them solely by trauma or victimhood.

Human Rights: According to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, there are inherent, universal, and inalienable rights belonging to every person, regardless of gender, sex, nationality, religion, or ethnicity.

Islamophobia: A form of prejudice, discrimination, hostility, or fear directed at Islam or Muslims as a religious, ethnic, or racialized group.

Judaism: A monotheistic religion believing in one god. Individuals who are Jewish may identify religiously, ethnically, or culturally as Jews – or may not identify as Jews at all. Jewish communities may differ in belief, practice, politics, geography, language, and autonomy.

Peoplehood: A concept that emphasizes shared culture, history, identity, and belonging within a group, beyond suffering alone.

Propaganda: Communication that is deliberately crafted and disseminated to influence public opinion, beliefs, or behavior toward a particular agenda, often using selective facts, emotionally charged messaging, or manipulation.

Racism: The hatred or prejudice against a person based on their race.

Scapegoat: A scapegoat is a person, group, or entity unfairly blamed and punished for the errors, failures, or wrongdoings of others. This individual often bears the burden of collective guilt to relieve others of responsibility or to deflect from the actual cause of a problem.

Stages of Genocide: Originally coined by Gregory Stanton, the 10 stages of genocides – Classification, Symbolization, Discrimination, Dehumanization, Organization, Polarization, Persecution, Preparation, Extermination, and Denial – are a way to standardize the approach of studying genocides.

Swastika: A symbol with a long history dating back 7,000 years. In the 20th century, the swastika was co-opted by Nazi Germany and employed to symbolize the “Aryan identity” of “German” nationalists. It is widely acknowledged as the hallmark of the Nazi party. In popular culture, white nationalists continue to use it.

Trauma-Informed Practice: An approach that recognizes the impact of trauma on learning and behavior, prioritizes safety and choice, and avoids practices that may retraumatize individuals.

Xenophobia: Prejudice/dislike against people perceived as foreigners or strangers that can lead to hostility.

Zionism: The movement for the self-determination and statehood of the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland, the Land of Israel.