Source
Movement Strategy Center
Glossary
Access posture
About
The Movement Strategy Center (MSC) is an Oakland-based movement-building organization that supports grassroots groups working toward what it calls Beloved Community. Its online glossary defines roughly a hundred movement concepts — abolition, ally, intersectionality, transformative justice — and closes with four Terms to Avoid tables (Disability, Economy/Poverty, Gender/Sex, Race/Indigeneity) pairing each avoided term with suggested alternatives.
On the commons’ source spectrum this is a progressive equity guide, and the corpus’ movement-organizing anchor for the Movement & Advocacy chapter. Its two halves do different work: the concept definitions are the corpus’ fullest single statement of movement vocabulary, while the Terms to Avoid tables carry direct what-to-call-people guidance behind pages from cripple and abnormal to bathroom-bill and poor.
Access
The glossary is published openly on MSC’s site (linked above) and was live as of the last check. Host posture is private-mirror-link-out: the commons keeps a private preservation copy for citation verification and links readers to MSC’s authoritative, continuously updated version. Quotes are held within fair-use limits.
Publication details
Version history
- 2024 edition Current canonical
Living online glossary; archived by the commons in June 2026 with ~106 concept entries plus the four Terms to Avoid tables.
Terms citing this source
- Abnormal Avoid
“Normal … (use “normal” only in medical/scientific context such as “normal test result” or “normal growth”) … Non-disabled … Abnormal … Atypical”
— Terms to Avoid → Disability table (Avoid / Use This Instead)
- Bathroom Bill Avoid
“Bathroom Bill … Non-discrimination law/ordinance”
— Gender/Sex table, "Avoid This / Use This Instead"
-
“An ideological and political intervention in a world where Black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise. It is an affirmation of Black humanity, Black contributions to society, and Black resilience in the face of deadly oppression.”
— Glossary entry, "Black Lives Matter"
- Blind Use with care
“Blind (for someone who has complete loss of sight) Legally blind (for someone who has almost complete loss of sight) Limited vision/Low vision/Partially sighted/Visually impaired (for someone who is neither legally or completely blind)”
— "Blind" entry, suggested-language list
- Cripple Reclaimed in community
“Avoid: although some disability activists have reclaimed the terms, to ensure respect, allies and those without disabilities should not use them out of respect”
— Terms to Avoid → Disability table, "Cripple/Crip" row
- Differently Abled Avoid
“Differently-abled … Special … Gifted … Person with a disability”
— Terms to Avoid → Disability, Avoid / Use This Instead table
- Equity Use
“Equality … Approaching each individual with uniform treatment, often overlooking historical and structural imbalances that have favored some while disadvantaging others. … Equity … Recognizing each person has different circumstances and allocating the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equally positive outcome.”
— Glossary entries, "Equality" and "Equity"
- Gender Identity Disorder Avoid
“Gender Identity Disorder … Sex Change … Gender affirmation”
— "Gender/Sex — Avoid This / Use This Instead" table
- Hermaphrodite Avoid
“Avoid This … Use This Instead … Hermaphrodite … Intersex”
— "Terms to Avoid" table, gender and sexuality section
- Implicit Bias Use with care
“Negative associations that people unknowingly hold and express automatically, without conscious awareness. … The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is often used to measure implicit biases concerning race, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, and other topics.”
— Glossary, "Implicit Bias" entry
- Poor Avoid
“Economy/Poverty … Avoid … Use This Instead … Poor/Poorest … Low income”
— "Economy/Poverty" avoid/use table ("Poor/Poorest" row)
- Prostitute Avoid
“Avoid This … Use This Instead … Prostitute Prostitution … Sex worker Sex work”
— Gender & sexuality "Avoid This / Use This Instead" table
- Racism Use with care
“A complex system of beliefs and behaviors grounded in a presumed superiority of the white race. These beliefs and behaviors are conscious and unconscious, personal and institutional, and result in the oppression of people of color and benefit the dominant group, white people.”
— Glossary, "Racism" entry
- Reverse Racism Use with care
“A term often used to describe prejudice against the racial majority. However, racism is rooted in power imbalances, where one group holds systemic influence. Situations labeled as “reverse racism” may not involve these power dynamics.”
— Glossary entry, "Reverse Racism"
- Sex Change Avoid
“Avoid This … Use This Instead … Gender Identity Disorder Sex Change … Gender affirmation”
— Gender/Sex "Avoid This / Use This Instead" table
- Sexual Preference Avoid
“Avoid This … Use This Instead … Sexual Preference … Sexual orientation”
— "Terms to Avoid" → gender/sexuality "Avoid This / Use This Instead" table
- White Supremacy Use
“An ideology that White people and the ideas, thoughts, beliefs, and actions of White people are superior to people of color and their ideas, thoughts, beliefs, and actions. White supremacy is ever present in our institutional and cultural assumptions.”
— Glossary: White Supremacy