Bye-Bye, BIPOC
Welcome to This Black-Ass Life! This week, we want to ask the time-honored Black-ass question, “WHO IS WE?” In a world where we can share the PoC, WoC, and/or BIPOC identity with NAACP Image Award nominee Awkwafina, we need to rethink some things.
I. The Facts
Linguists pinpoint the etymology of the term “People of Color” to the collaboration between the Black Panther Party and the Brown Berets in the late 1960s as they worked to dismantle oppressive racist structures.
The term "Women of Color" came a little later at the 1977 National Women’s Conference in Houston among minority women. The term was coined to solidify the women’s commitment to one another.
The New York Times placed the first reference of BIPOC to Twitter in 2013, and it too was originally meant to be a signifier of solidarity.
Today, the terms are not used with the initial intent.
Like woke, Karen or canceled, Black people helped create or created these very political terms as a way of talking about their experiences in America, but once they are co-opted by white Americans and enter the mainstream lexicon, they become bastardized, flattened and de-politicized.
Let's pull over for a minute. Is there anything more grating than white women, who are all Karens, talking about other Karens? The answer is no.
Why does it matter?
When white people say BIPOC when they mean to address a nonwhite person, they are not opening up any conversation about race. Rather, they’re relying on a lazy grouping of whole populations of people that only share the commonality of not being white.
As Crissle once aptly said, “Words matter!” While the origins of the terms meant something different, now they are further establishing whiteness as the standard, and the rest of us just revolve around it.
Today, white people and the powers that be use these blanket labels when they mean to or should say Black (or reference another specific community). We immediately experience consequences of this in a culture centering whiteness and in things like policies created to address “PoC issues” rather than the specific needs of affected communities.
Further, “PoC solidarity” is not and has never been a reality. We are obviously not saying that pockets of solidarity haven’t existed (i.e: Japanese Americans have been recently very vocal about reparations for Black Americans).
However, the hard truth is that some non-Black people who are not white can be just as active in white supremacy as white people. Anti-Blackness racism is core to America, and the so-called solidarity many claim they want is at the explicit expense of Black people. Here’s looking at you Gina Rodriguez, Nora Lum and Jennie Nguyen.
Ultimately, the terms BIPOC, WoC, and PoC have become jargony useless linguistic signals that trick us into thinking we are being more inclusive than we are. It's the "I don't see color" catchall that erases the importance of acknowledging disparate cultural identities and experiences which is key to understanding race in America.
What can my Black ass do?
Within your spheres of influence, please try to encourage specificity beyond “not white.” Say the Hmong activists, Bay-area Black Muslims, Puerto Rican librarians, Japanese-American teachers, etc.
People want to be named and acknowledged. Give us that at the very least.
II. Other Things
Happy Black History Month! Balck-Ass joy only!
A thread of racists getting their ass beat.
Check out TheRoot.com this month as they’ve changed their homepage into a Black History timeline.
We watched Single Black Female on Sunday, and Amber Riley deserves an Oscar, an Emmy, a Tony, certainly an Image award. A performance!
Quinta Brunson getting suprised by her favorite teacher who inspired Abbott Elementary, joy!
Danielle Brooks getting the surprise of a lifetime got us teary-eyed! Also, did you see her wedding photos? GORGEOUS!
Ladies Who List is full of glamorous gorgeous Black women and I (Jumoke) just want to stare at them and these beautiful (somewhat affordable) luxurious Atlanta homes.
It is so beautiful to see Janet Jackson get her roses with this smash hit documentary even though there was way too much focus on the men in her life, especially Jermaine.
Our Black-Ass song(s) of the week (Jumoke):
Happy Black History Month!! Black Effect, but **only** Beyonce’s part. Also, this is hands down the winner of the #BlackEffectChallenge.
Things we look forward to / don’t look forward to:
I (Jumoke) look forward to turning my air fryer from Celsius back to Fahrenheit. It magically switched and now I don’t know the temperature. Help! It was just the other day I was a celebrated technologist connecting my phone to my tv, now look at me. So sad.
I (Mitu) was recently introduced to a new so-bad-it’s-perfect television show called Kings of Napa on OWN and I cannot wait for more episodes.
lll. A Note On Black-Ass Podcasts
10/10 recommend these videos of people eviscerating the "Black alpha male" podcast industrial complex:
Stay Black, thrive and take as many naps as you want! We'll hit your inbox next on February 21.