How to support BIPOC / IBPOC communities
What do the acronyms BIPOC and IBPOC stand for?
The acronym ‘BIPOC’ or ‘IBPOC’ stands for Black Peoples, Indigenous Peoples, and People(s) of Colour (BIPOC). Utilization of the acronym BIPOC/IBPOC allows for collective activism and recognition that, while differences clearly exist, living in a culture of white supremacy impacts people from racialized communities. Additionally, BIPOC/IBPOC is person-first language and enables a shift away from terms like “marginalized” and “minority”; although these terms may remain factually arcuate, they lack a sense of humanity since there’s no clear indication they refer to people and they suggest an inferiority to the group that’s not in the minority.
Things you can do to support BIPOC/ IBPOC communities
BIPOC/IBPOC communities face marginalization, discrimination, and oppression within society in numerous forms. The unjust treatment of BIPOC/IBPOC stems from a long history of systemic racism that has infiltrated nearly every societal realm. The following list provides some suggestions for actions that can be taken to support BIPOC/IBPOC communities in their fight for justice. This is not an exhaustive list!
1. Reflect on your biases and privilege
We all have biases. The first step is acknowledging and reflecting on the racial biases we hold. These biases are often subconscious, but taking the time to think about the biases we hold and how they impact how we interact with the world is key! Reflect on your life experiences, your childhood and family upbringing; toys you played with as a kid; the neighborhoods in which you’ve lived; media messages you were exposed to; your family and peer networks; etc . How might these experiences have shaped your biases, with or without your conscious awareness? How about privilege? Activist and scholar Peggy Mcintosh wrote an article titled, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” in which she lists some privileges that she, a white individual, is made privy to based solely on the colour of her skin. McIntosh’s list includes day to day privileges such as, “I can choose blemish cover or bandages in flesh color and have them more or less match my skin” and “ I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help, my race will not work against me”. Consider what privileges you hold in your backpack based on the colour of your skin.
2. Educate yourself!
Take the time to read, watch, and listen to content that educates you on the historic and current events that impact BIPOC communities. Avoid relying on BIPOC/IBPOC individuals to educate you - explaining a history of systematic racism and oppression can be exhausting and emotionally burdensome. And remember, learning is a life-long process so commit to regularly engaging in activities that challenge you to think deeply about race, racism, and your own positionality!
3. Know your terms
In order to have effective conversations about how race and racism impacts BIPOC/IBPOC communities, it is crucial to be up to date on current and appropriate terminology. Here is a glossary of some relevant terms to get you started (definitions provided by racialequitytools.org and Simon Fraser University) :
Accountability : In the context of racial equity work, accountability refers to the ways in which individuals and communities hold themselves to their goals and actions, and acknowledge the values and groups to which they are responsible.
Ally: Someone who makes the commitment and effort to recognize their privilege (based on gender, class, race, sexual identity, etc.) and work in solidarity with oppressed groups in the struggle for justice. Allies understand that it is in their own interest to end all forms of oppression, even those from which they may benefit in concrete ways.
Anti-Racism: Anti-Racism is defined as the work of actively opposing racism by advocating for changes in political, economic, and social life. Anti-racism tends to be an individualized approach, and set up in opposition to individual racist behaviors and impacts.
Black: Used to refer to people of African descent. In some cases, the term Black can also be used to refer to a specific cultural identity. In the context of white supremacy (as described below), the term Black is often associated with naming, calling out, and analyzing anti-Black racism.
Black Lives Matter: A political movement to address systemic and state violence against African Americans. Per the Black Lives Matter organizers: “In 2013, three radical Black organizers—Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi—created a Black-centered political will and movement building project called #BlackLivesMatter. It was in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer, George Zimmerman. The project is now a member-led global network of more than 40 chapters. [Black Lives Matter] members organize and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. Black Lives Matter is an ideological and political intervention in a world where Black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise. It is an affirmation of Black folks’ humanity, our contributions to this society, and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression.”
Colonization: Colonization can be defined as some form of invasion, dispossession, and subjugation of a people. The invasion need not be military; it can begin—or continue—as geographical intrusion in the form of agricultural, urban, or industrial encroachments. The result of such incursion is the dispossession of vast amounts of lands from the original inhabitants. This is often legalized after the fact. The long-term result of such massive dispossession is institutionalized inequality. The colonizer/colonized relationship is by nature an unequal one that benefits the colonizer at the expense of the colonized. Ongoing and legacy colonialism impact power relations in most of the world today.
Cultural Appropriation: Theft of cultural elements—including symbols, art, language, customs, etc.—for one’s own use, commodification, or profit, often without understanding, acknowledgement,or respect for its value in the original culture. Results from the assumption of a dominant (i.e. white) culture’s right to take other cultural elements.
Decolonization: Decolonization may be defined as the active resistance against colonial powers, and a shifting of power towards political, economic, educational, cultural, psychic independence and power that originate from a colonized nation’s own indigenous culture. This process occurs politically and also applies to personal and societal psychic, cultural, political, agricultural, and educational deconstruction of colonial oppression.
Discrimination: The unequal treatment of members of various groups based on race, gender, social class, sexual orientation, physical ability, religion and other categories.
Implicit Bias: Implicit Bias Also known as unconscious or hidden bias, implicit biases are negative associations that people unknowingly hold. They are expressed automatically, without conscious awareness.
Indigenous: The term Indigenous is a collective noun used to refer to the Peoples and Nations that existed on Turtle Island prior to colonization, and continue to exist here now. Many people prefer the term Indigenous to other terms like Indian, Aboriginal, First Nations, or Native; however, the terms Aboriginal, First Nations, Inuit, and Métis are all currently used in Canadian law.
Liberation: The creation of relationships, societies, communities, organizations, and collective spaces characterized by equity, fairness, and the implementation of systems for the allocation of goods, services, benefits, and rewards that support the full participation of each human and the promotion of their full humanness.
Marginalization: A social process by which individuals or groups are (intentionally or unintentionally) distanced from access to power and resources and constructed as insignificant, peripheral, or less valuable/privileged to a community or “mainstream” society. This term describes a social process, so as not to imply a lack of agency. Marginalized groups or people are those excluded from mainstream social, economic, cultural, or political life. Examples of marginalized groups include, but are by no means limited to, groups excluded due to race, religion, political or cultural group, age, gender, or financial status. To what extent such populations are marginalized, however, is context specific and reliant on the cultural organization of the social site in question.
Oppression: The systematic subjugation of one social group by a more powerful social group for the social, economic, and political benefit of the more powerful social group.
People of Colour: Often the preferred collective term for referring to non-White racial groups. Racial justice advocates have been using the term “people of color” (not to be confused with the pejorative “colored people”) since the late 1970s as an inclusive and unifying frame across different racial groups that are not White, to address racial inequities. While “people of color” can be a politically useful term, and describes people with their own attributes (as opposed to what they are not, e.g., “non-White”), it is also important whenever possible to identify people through their own racial/ethnic group, as each has its own distinct experience and meaning and may be more appropriate.
Prejudice: A pre-judgment or unjustifiable, and usually negative, attitude of one type of individual or groups toward another group and its members. Such negative attitudes are typically based on unsupported generalizations (or stereotypes) that deny the right of individual members of certain groups to be recognized and treated as individuals with individual characteristics.
Privilege: Unearned social power accorded by the formal and informal institutions of society to ALL members of a dominant group (e.g. white privilege)
Intersectionality: Per Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw: Intersectionality is simply a prism to see the interactive effects of various forms of discrimination and disempowerment. It looks at the way that racism, many times, interacts with patriarchy, heterosexism, classism, xenophobia —seeing that the overlapping vulnerabilities created by these systems actually create specific kinds of challenges.
Turtle Island: Used to refer to the lands that are now collectively known as North America without referencing the colonial names that have been given to these places (for example, Canada, the United States of America, North America).
White Privilege: Refers to the unquestioned and unearned set of advantages, entitlements, benefits and choices bestowed on people solely because they are white. Generally white people who experience such privilege do so without being conscious of it.
4. Take action/ make change!
Learning about BIPOC/IBPOC issues is great, but doing something about these issues is even better! Show up for BIPOC/IBPOC communities in authentic ways! Be it on a micro or macro level, get involved in antiracism initiatives. Spread awareness, confront racism in your daily life, get involved in community organizing initiatives, or intentionally support BIPOC/IBPOC-owned businesses! Small actions can go a long way!