Impactful Inclusion Toolkit

ACTIVITY 6Remove the Labels

“Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined.”

—Toni Morrison

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We have labels for most everything and everybody. Labeling makes life easier as it defines our expectations and helps us compartmentalize situations and behaviors. The dictionary defines labels as a “classifying phrase or name applied to a person or thing, especially one that is inaccurate or restrictive.” You may encounter this more often than you think. Imagine that you've been taking notes with a black pen that's just run out of ink. You find a box labeled “Black Pens” and naturally expect to find black pens inside. But what if instead, you expected black pens with a felt tip and that's not what was in the box? Then that “Black Pen” label did not go far enough in helping you understand its contents. The pen loses some of its identity in the label. In the same vein, when we label individuals, we can easily overlook how unique they are and miss out on their richness. When we encounter someone with an ethnic or non-American sounding last name, with brown skin tones, or speaking with an accent, we're inclined to believe that we know their lineage which limits our curiosity about them. The fact is that we can't judge a book by its cover. In a globalized world, I am meeting more individuals who are multiracial, multicultural, or a combination thereof, and cannot and should not be categorized as “this race” or “that culture” lest we lose a big part of their identity. Labeling ...