DEI. EDI. DEBI. JEDI. There are so many acronyms out there to describe the work of diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, justice and more. But with the alphabet soup, does the meaning of these individual words sometimes get diluted or lost? Maybe.

July 2020 saw the continuation of the global upsurge in Black Lives Matter protests and actions. It was an opportunity for many people to reflect on how they might be covertly or overtly reproducing systemic inequality and oppression through the more subtle language and behaviours we engage in day to day.

During May, our offerings for Diversity Dictionary were words that linked to identity. As is our aim with Diversity Dictionary, rather than just present a definition, we probe and question the validity of phrases, as well as explore alternatives.