Racism — Sexism — Transphobia — Homophobia — each of these constructs are the result of learned belief systems and adopted behaviors. Relics from an unhealed, multidimensional matrix of colonialist and imperialist principles, these systems of oppression serve to socially engineer, indoctrinate and normalize hierarchal power structures, thus, controlling our greatest resource…our minds.

Our minds, our psyches shape our entire realities. Our thoughts, belief systems, unconscious biases, prejudices and self-concepts literally create and structure the daily experiences and encounters we have, as well as guides our selection of friends and intimate partner relationships, influences the conversations in which we engage, molds our personal interests and drives virtually every decision we make. Countless studies have determined that during the first seven (7) years of life, when our brains are at its most malleable and impressionable state, our minds are subjected to intense programming [both conscious and subconscious] from the dominant influential structures in our realities, (i.e. immediate familial connections, formal and informal educational systems, religious or spiritual associations, community and neighborhood constructs, visual and auditory media, etc.) As a result, 95% of adulthood life, meaning career choice, intimate partner relationship selection, friendship and social circle cultivation, diet and lifestyle choice, is spent operating from this indoctrinated programming. (https://upliftconnect.com/reprogramming-the-mind-for-evolution/ https://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/3-reasons-past-subconscious-programming-still-influencing-today/ )

Given the unlimited and expansive power of our minds, including its role in: a) identity formation, b) construction of belief systems, c) memory and recall and d) identifying likeness and difference, it’s vital for social transformation pedagogy AND strategic activism to begin at the epicenter of these issues: unlearning. Unlearning internalized oppressive value systems ensures that both social and systemic anti-humanist power structures are authentically and sustainably dismantled.

Being socialized or conditioned from an anti-humanist, hierarchal framework obscures truth, erodes sacred humanity, separates and severs human connection and erects multigenerational [karmic] debts that descendant groups inherit, furthering the chasm in an already fractured society.

Process to UNLEARNing Oppression and Decolonizing the Mind

Key Terms:

• Ableism - social and systemic oppression of people with disabilities

• Ageism - social and systemic oppression of elders and youth, (i.e. groups outside of normalized ages of “adulthood”)

• Colonial or Colonize - a process in which a central system/unit of power dominates the surrounding territory, including its natural resources, government, indigenous inhabitants and culture

• Colorism - prejudicial or discriminatory treatment towards individuals with a darker skin tones from people of the same ethnic or racial group

• Benevolent Racism - a form of paternalistic prejudice where dominant or oppressive racial groups treat racial/ethnic minorities as children and position themselves as the father or authoritative parental figure. This consists of attitudes and behaviors from the individual from the dominant or oppressive group believes is favorable toward a “minority” group, but actually uphold, support and legitimize racist practices and the maltreatment of members from oppressed communities

• Benevolent Sexism - a form of paternalistic prejudice where men treat women as children and position themselves as the father or authoritative parental figure. This is characterized as an affectionate, albeit patronizing attitude and belief system that treats women as fragile, inadequate, physically weak and less intellectual and often requires the aid, protection and provision of men. Benevolent sexist attitudes also contend that women are “purer” and “nicer” than men, yet also mentally weaker and less capable, resulting in behaviors such as over-helping women because they cannot perform a task themselves), using diminutive names (i.e. “sweetie” or “sweetheart”) toward female strangers, or speaking in a belittling tone to women and girls, implying they cannot comprehend something technical

• Classism - structural subjugation of communities from low or poor socioeconomic groups

• Decenter - the act of displacing from the center or from a central position

• Decolonize - to release or liberate from colonial control

• Discrimination - the conscious and unconscious practice of treating a person or group of people differently, typically in a subhuman manner, because of that person's or group’s perceived status or characteristics

• Equity - the quality of being fair or impartial

• Genderism and Sexism - oppression of genders and sexes that are not cisgender males

• Gender roles - the conditioned and normalized behavior(s) equated to a specific person or group as appropriate to their “gender,” determined by the dominant cultural norms

• Heterosexism - the structural and social oppression of sexualities that are not cisgender heterosexual

• Homophobia - the systemic and socialized prejudicial treatment towards same gender loving groups

• Institutional Racism – the implementation and perpetuation of race-based inequality and discrimination within formal institutions, such as government agencies, universities, or courts

• Internalized Racism – the subconscious adoption of racist attitudes, stigmas and biases towards one’s own racial/ethnic group and thus, themselves

• Internalized Homophobia - the subconscious adoption of homophobic attitudes, stigmas and biases towards one’s own sexual orientation group and thus, themselves

• Internalized Sexism - the subconscious adoption of sexist and misogynistic attitudes, stigmas and biases towards one’s own gender or sex group and thus, themselves

• Internalized Transphobia - the subconscious adoption of transphobic attitudes, stigmas and biases towards one’s own transgendered group and thus, themselves

• Microaggression - indirect, subtle, or unintentional discriminatory behaviors against members of a marginalized group

• Misogyny - a dislike of, contempt for, or embedded prejudice against women

• Misogynoir - specific hatred, dislike, distrust, and prejudice targeted towards black women

• Paternalistic Prejudice - treating a historically subjugated group or person from an oppressed group as a father treats a child

• Privilege - an imbalanced advantage or immunity granted solely to a particular person or group. *Note: every person/group has a form or constellation of identity privileges

• Racism - systemic, (meaning political, organizational, economical, legal) oppression of subjugated ethnic/racial groups. * Note: Racism is based on a construct of power + privilege.

• Rape culture - a pervasive sociological normalization of rape due to societal attitudes about gender, sexuality and power dynamics

• Religious oppression - the systematic mistreatment and alienation of an individual or community due to their religious beliefs, religious affiliations or absence of religious beliefs.

• Sizeism - the social and systemic discrimination of a person due to their size

• Social oppression - the imbalanced relationship between two groups of people in which one group benefits from systematic abuse and the other group is exploited, socially, economically and systemically

• Stereotype - a widely held and oversimplified idea of a specific individual or social group

• Stigma - an attribute, behavior, or socially engineered reputation which is socially discredits a person or social group

• Transphobia - the social and systemic discrimination of the transgendered community

• White Supremacy - the belief and ideology that people and groups identified as White/Anglo-Saxon/European/European American are inherently and biologically superior to all other ethnic/racial groups and should therefore dominate society

• Xenophobia - dislike of or prejudice against people from other countries