Democratic Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens announced a 24-page guide for inclusive language on Thursday that provides sanctioned terms for city officials to use.
Atlanta now has official government definitions for terms such as “microaggressions” and “gender identity,” and lays out specific phrases government officials should and should not use, according to the guide. Dickens claimed that the guide would help change culture in Atlanta to be more “welcoming” and urged city residents to also rely on the guide in their everyday lives.
“We begin with language because behavior change begins when we shift mindsets. We do that by helping people communicate more thoughtfully, effectively, and inclusively,” Candace Stanciel, the Chief Equity Officer for the Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, said at the conference announcing the guide, according to a video. “This is not about being politically correct, but seeing people as whole humans with complex identities.”
The mayor of Atlanta has released an inclusive language guide that rejects color-blindness and teaches that white supremacy is ubiquitous in the United States: pic.twitter.com/v0t61QdjWJ
— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) September 8, 2023
The guide promotes critical race theory as a recognition “that racism is more than the result of individual bias and prejudice,” and defines racism as an issue promulgated in the U.S. by white people. It argues that “white dominant culture” has used white supremacy to establish “cultural norms, practices, and functions” to force everyone to behave under its “authority.”
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