When Do You Use The Term BIPOC?

Summary

The author discusses the use of the term BIPOC, acknowledging its potential to both divide and unite, and advocates for its use to specifically highlight the diverse experiences within the community of people of color, while also recognizing the privilege and challenges associated with such categorizations.

Abstract

The article "When Do You Use The Term BIPOC? a poem and a writing challenge" by Lucy Dan delves into the nuanced debate surrounding the term BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color). The author reflects on the criticism and support for the term, noting that while some argue it divides more than it unites, others appreciate its intention to acknowledge the internal differences within the broader category of POC. The author personally chooses to use "BIPOC" to be as specific as possible about the distinct experiences of marginalized groups, emphasizing the importance of not diluting the central messages of these communities. The piece also touches on the author's own experiences growing up in a diverse environment and the realization of privilege in being part of a majority within a minority group. The article concludes with an invitation to other writers to engage with the topic through a writing prompt, encouraging a thoughtful exploration of the balance between specificity and community solidarity in terminology use.

Opinions

The author consciously uses the term "BIPOC" to avoid diluting the central message of a group and to acknowledge the specific experiences of different marginalized communities.
There is an awareness of the privilege in being part of a majority within a minority group, as well as the exclusionary practices that can occur within these groups.
The term "Asian" is critiqued for its past exclusion of South Asian experiences and for potentially de-anonymizing individuals in predominantly white spaces.
The author values the strength of community support but also emphasizes the importance of being specific to avoid sweeping individual experiences aside as anomalies.
The article stresses the thought process behind the use of terminology, acknowledging that good intentions do not excuse harm and that there is a willingness to receive specific feedback on where one might be wrong.
The writing prompt issued at the end of the article aims to spark a conversation on whether it is more effective to be specific to highlight differences or to generalize to leverage the strength of a larger community.

a poem and a writing challenge

I’ve been told not to use this term because it divides more than it unites, even though its original intention was to highlight that there are differences within the group that falls under the “POC” umbrella.

I’ve been told not to use this term because “we are all people of colour”, a view that gave me pause because of how closely it mimicked arguments of being “colourblind” as a way to avoid racism, which ironically upholds the status quo to pretend that there aren’t genuine differences in experiences and hardships faced by people of colour.

Yet I use the term “BIPOC”, consciously.

Here’s why.

My guiding principle is to be a specific as possible because one of the genuine downfalls of using any term is when you’re categorizing in a way that dilutes the central message of a group.

All the same, I am not afraid to lean into the strength of a community, when this support is welcomed.

I remember how growing up, I had existed in a place that was diverse enough that I mostly used the term “Asian” to connect with others like me in a predominantly white space.

I also remember how “Asian” used to hold (and still does, for some) a heavy emphasis on East and South East Asians, to the exclusion of South Asian experiences from within this name.

I look back and see the privilege of first, living in a diverse enough place that I could lean back into the Asian community as a whole in order to process something that has happened to me; and second, that for a time, even in this process of lending in for support, I have been a part of a majority that has been exclusionary in the past.

Contrast this with now, where using the term “Asian” specifically de-anonymizes a BIPOC member of the department for all they have shared, because there are only the two of us. That being said, there ARE more of us Asians than the one single Black student, than the one single Latino student, than the one single Indigenous student, collected as if trophies to show off in the diversity stats but ignored when it comes to genuinely supported through the graduate journey.

I use the term BIPOC to lean into the strength of the community because otherwise my one (1) experience will be swept aside as an anomaly (sample size = 1 vs. sample size 50 white students who love and thrive in the program), while acknowledging that even with this group, I have been lucky and privileged to never have been the first nor the only Asian student.

The truth is I don’t know if this is the right way, and the most important thing I want to stress is the thought process behind it all, not because “good intentions” excuse harm done to others, but because … should this be the most clownish take, I make space to receive the most specific feedback about where I have gone wrong.

When Do You Use The Term BIPOC?

a poem and a writing challenge

#WritingPrompt: to be specific to highlight or to generalize to lean into the strength of community and numbers?

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