Rethink Your Program’s Language Around Black and Culturally Diverse Communities

Language matters and requires awareness. This Miami Herald op-ed, penned last summer by fundraiser Carlton Ford, a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, Juilliard, and Rice University, challenges non-profit organizations to examine their use of language and labels when describing communities that are of BIPOC origins (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color). Referencing Ibram X. Kendi’s work on anti-racism as well as other pioneering thinkers, Ford questions the intentionality behind words used to describe whole communities, and particularly their youth. Read and share Ford’s piece, which sparks necessary conversation around how programs serving culturally rich communities can evolve to better represent and respect those communities, in the field and on the page.