Glossary of New Terms

colonizer virus: What remains in society, culture, and institutions after the conquest phase of colonization is done, compelling tactics of division, control, and exploitation. Nowhere is the virus more present than in how we deal with wealth.

global bleaching: The side effect of colonizers traveling the earth to consolidate wealth: a staggering reduction in the number of religions, languages, species, cultures, social systems, media channels, political systems, etc. The result is a more bland and boring world that is less innovative and less resilient.

ivory towers: Institutions that maintain the white supremacist culture and operate according to the colonizer mantra of divide, control, exploit.

listening in color: The combination of listening openly without controlling the parameters of what can be said; listening with empathy and allowing the experiences of the speaker to permeate; and listening for what is being said beyond the words spoken.

loans-to-gifts spectrum: The collection of institutions that control access to wealth, from banks to investment firms to foundations, collectively also called funders.

medicine money: Resources and wealth used intentionally to heal divides and restore balance to the earth.

orphans: A compassionate term for non-Indigenous people of all backgrounds, indicating the severing from their ancestral territories and their ancient ways (with thanks to Stephen Jenkinson).

shiny new penny syndrome: An aspect of internalized oppression, when a new person of color threatens the existing token person of color’s position of power.

Whitney Houston–Bobby Brown syndrome: An aspect of internalized oppression in which you have to diminish yourself in order to not steal the spotlight of someone else at your organization who has more power than you.