Common Terms, concepts, and theories

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Multiculturalism: An ideology that encourages interest in many cultures within a society rather than in only a mainstream culture.

Diversity: The concept of diversity encompasses acceptance and respect.
It means understanding that each individual is unique,
and recognizing our individual differences.  These can be along
the dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs,
political beliefs, or other ideologies. 

Race: A social construct based on the idea that a human population can be considered distinct based on physical characteristics.

Ethnicity: A term which represents social groups with a shared history, sense of identity, geography and cultural roots which may occur despite racial difference

Culture: A shared, learned, symbolic system of values, beliefs and attitudes that shapes and influences perception and behavior

Latino: somebody who comes from a country of Latin America or has Latin American ancestry regardless of use of the Spanish language.

Hispanic: A person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, Central or South American or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race. Those of Hispanic ancestry must descend from a Spanish speaking country therefore Hispanic is not as inclusive as the term Latino.

Homophobia: used to describe the fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals as well as hatred, hostility, disapproval of, or prejudice towards homosexuals, or homosexual behavior or cultures

“On the Downlow”: a slang phrase often used to refer to something that is secret or hidden  usually homosexuality or bisexuality.

Spirituality: Emphasizing the importance of finding one's own path to any given God or deity, rather than following what others say works

Religious: A religion is a set of beliefs and practices generally organized around supernatural and moral claims, and often codified as prayer, ritual, and religious law. Religion also encompasses ancestral or cultural traditions, writings, history, and mythology, as well as personal faith and mystic experience. The term "religion" refers to both the personal practices related to communal faith and to group rituals and communication stemming from shared conviction.

Colorblind Theory: Dictates that the immutable characteristic of skin color is meaningless. The colorblind position supports a legal skepticism of racial categories and racial classifications. The apparent goal is to treat everyone equally without reference to context, situation, history or culture

Critical race theory: Emphasizes the socially constructed nature of race, considers judicial conclusions to be the result of the workings of power, and opposes the continuation of all forms of subordination.