After multiple generations, many Black individuals do not identify as African, or may have Caribbean roots.īeyond that, African-American is a nation-specific term. Black Americans refer to people of African or Caribbean descent whose ancestry typically began through way of slavery. There is a significant difference between Black and African experiences in American and in many other countries. Let's break down who Black, Indigenous and people of color refer to. For this reason and many others, terms like “minority” and “marginalized” are increasingly being replaced with the term “BIPOC,” which can describe many groups without undermining their individual identities or adding to their struggles.
Deeming non-white communities the “minority” can be used as an oppressive tool that creates a comparative mentality in which non-white people are disempowered in contrast to the “majority.” It presents whiteness as the default and otherizes non-white people in the process. Soon, non-white people will be the majority in the United States, as well. The term “minority” can be problematic beyond its generalization of multiple communities into one blanket term, as non-white people actually compose a majority of the world’s population. Its purpose is to bring attention to Black and Indigenous struggle, rather than grouping all people of color into umbrella terms such as "marginalized" or "minority," which can undermine the significance of individual racial identity. It glosses over each ethnicities' varying struggles.īIPOC stands for "Black, Indigenous and people of color" and is pronounced like "buy pock" rather than each letter being said individually. (and across the globe), this term has lost some of its potency. But considering the tumultuous racial history the Black, African and Indigenous populations have faced in the U.S. Previously, POC was a general term referring to anyone who was not white. Rather than grouping all colored folks as one figurative blob, it aims to highlight Black and Indigenous communities.
Many are familiar with the term POC, which stands for "people of color", but BIPOC is an update that focuses on nuanced human experience. In recent years, the term "BIPOC" has circulated on social media and news sources.