The Brief: BIPOC is an umbrella term for "Black," "Indigenous," and "People Of Color." The term is meant to be unifying while also highlighting Black and Indigenous people and the injustices they face, like Native invisibility and anti-Blackness.
DEEP DIVE
BIPOC stands for “Black,” “Indigenous,” and “People Of Color.” It is a unifying term and meant to collectively identify all minority groups while specifically highlighting Black and Indigenous people. The term acknowledges the different levels of injustices these groups of people face, like Native invisibility and anti-Blackness.
We often erase indigenous people in our discussions and anti-Blackness is so prevalent in non-Black POC communities, that the distinction helps us point out privilege & oppression within our communities.
— Femmefeministe (@Femmefeministe) June 13, 2018
The term has been around for years, but became popularized in the midst of the June 2020 Black Lives Matter movement when Black people and allies urged others to stop using the terms Black and POC interchangeably.
While the term is becoming more widespread, there are many who find the BIPOC too be too broad a term to encompass the complexities of each minority group and their respective experiences.
maybe POC, BIPOC, minority, etc don’t feel like the correct terminology because there are very few contexts in which grouping together everyone who isn’t white makes sense?
— chrysanthemum tran (@chrysanthemvm_) June 10, 2020