BIPOC terms of use

June 26, 2020 10:21 AM

How is the term BIPOC supposed to be used? Is it supposed to only refer to Black and Indigenous people of color, or is it supposed to include Black, Indigenous, and all other people of color?

Honestly I've been confused. I've only seen the term used more widely within the last year or two, and sometimes the context is not illuminating. For most of it I thought it referred to only the first, and thought it excluded people like me (Asian American), but now it seems like it refers to anyone that's not white?

posted by toastyk to Society & Culture (14 answers total)

The BIPOC Project's website should answer your questions. The Project was founded by two women - one Black, one Asian.

From the website:
"The BIPOC Project aims to build authentic and lasting solidarity among Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC), in order to undo Native invisibility, anti-Blackness, dismantle white supremacy and advance racial justice.

We use the term BIPOC to highlight the unique relationship to whiteness that Indigenous and Black (African Americans) people have, which shapes the experiences of and relationship to white supremacy for all people of color within a U.S. context. We unapologetically focus on and center relationships among BIPOC folks. "
posted by Stoof at 10:32 AM on June 26, 2020 [9 favorites]

I'm not an expert on this exact acronym but do fall under this label as 1st Generation Poarch Creek and am a big fan of the serial comma such that my take on the acronym was that it stood for:

Black, Indigenous, and People Of Color

Yet another example of a usage where, without the serial comma, the world devolves into anarchy.

Put me on the record with having little to no issue with the acronym but respecting folks that do want more information or see it as possibly less than ideal. Lord knows that native peoples (from my US perspective) have enough, historical and present day, issues with naming of groups and proper procedures with the same.
posted by RolandOfEld at 10:34 AM on June 26, 2020 [7 favorites]

OP, I think your confusion will be widely shared. It is likely that the term will be used differently by different people and will not have a definitive meaning. See, for example, the first two response to this post.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 10:46 AM on June 26, 2020 [6 favorites]

I've seen someone use it to mean specifically Black and/or Indigenous people only (context: Facebook thread in a big Facebook group offering a particular thing to BIPOC, someone POC but not Black or Indigenous asking for clarification if the offer was intended for them, and the group moderator saying no.) So it seems there's ambiguity even if there's a formal correct answer.
posted by needs more cowbell at 11:01 AM on June 26, 2020 [1 favorite]

There doesn't seem to be a consensus. My understanding is that it was coined to be all-encompassing but also to highlight black and indigenous identities and their relationship to white supremacy in the United States context. (I'd like to think it was also acknowledgement that many indigenous people don't like the conflation of indigenous with POC, but I haven't seen a whole lot of evidence for that and maybe it's not as much an issue in the U.S. as it is in Canada.) However, enough groups - sharing the belief that black and indigenous Americans have a particular commonality in these discussions - have used the term to mean Black and Indigenous POC only that you can't necessarily know which one someone means unless they've included an explanation.
posted by northernish at 11:04 AM on June 26, 2020 [2 favorites]

I work in social justice spaces in the US and I have only seen it used to denote Black and Indigenous people of color. As I understand it, the intention is to highlight the fact that Black and Indigenous people experience systemic racism in a different way and often more harmful way than other people of color. (I'm white but this is how it's been explained to me by Black and Indigenous colleagues who do anti-racism work.)
posted by lunasol at 11:16 AM on June 26, 2020

I have almost exclusively seen it to mean Black and Indeginous people, only. This site doesn't, and apparently neither do the creators. So I guess there isn't a consensus, and as such, as a white person, I'm working on not using acronyms anymore, for a couple reasons:
1)Lots of issues are only faced by one demographic of people, for instance the extreme anti-blackness in the US. Using an acronym obfuscates who the hate and oppression is directed at. In order to amplify voices who are directly experience in the oppression, we need to know who that is. An Asian teen, for example, is not at particular risk for being tried as an adult in court.
2) This is my personal opinion, but it seems othering. It creates two groups: white people, and people of color. Our society is, in reality, white people, Indigenous Americans, South East Asians, Nigerians, etc.
3) Its lazy and grammatically nightmarish and doesn't challenge white people's thinking about race. People rarely type the full acronym out. People on metatalk, for example, like saying "poc mods". Not only does it not make sense, it becomes a "non-default" label that's a bit abstracted from race relations. Saying "mods of color", in my opinion, ties that description to their identity and their title. Idk, it's a bit pedantic, but having "mods" and "poc mods" sounds like you have normal mods, and other mods. Saying mods of color groups them foremost as being mods just like all other mods, but with unique experiences.
posted by FirstMateKate at 11:23 AM on June 26, 2020 [1 favorite]

This topic was discussed on The Takeaway yesterday.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 11:28 AM on June 26, 2020 [1 favorite]

My understanding was always that it meant Black, Indigenous, and People of Color--so including all POC but putting Black and Indigenous people at the front. I've seen it used that way in most social justice spaces. I have, however, seen lots of people (on social media and elsewhere) interpret it to mean Black and Indigenous People of Color. If it does mean that latter, though, why can't we just say Black and Indigenous people? Feels like that would cut out a lot of confusion.
posted by armadillo1224 at 1:26 PM on June 26, 2020 [2 favorites]

Relevant Twitter poll asking the same question (and discussing their preferences for the more exclusive interpretation). Current results (for folks who don't want to bias the results just to see them) are 30/70 in favor of "Black, Indigenous, and People of Color."
posted by heresiarch at 3:48 PM on June 26, 2020

@armadillo1224 Not all Indigenous people are people of colour. In Canada, Indigenous people, for census purposes, are non-visible minorities.
posted by Chaussette and the Pussy Cats at 5:37 PM on June 26, 2020 [1 favorite]

Please be aware also that outside the US it can be experienced as offensive.
posted by lollusc at 6:13 PM on June 26, 2020 [2 favorites]

Is this an American only thing?
posted by McNulty at 7:37 PM on June 26, 2020

I'm also in the US, also on the edges of some social justice circles, and I have only ever seen it used to mean "Black, Indigenous, and People of Color". Imperfect analogy, but it's much like why the acronym is LGBTQ and not just GBTQ.
posted by capricorn at 9:06 PM on June 26, 2020