This campus buzzword just made it into the dictionary
Dictionary.com added the term “BIPOC” — a label made popular by activists on college campuses — to its lexicon.
Campus Reform has detailed the emergence of the term following the death of George Floyd.
Dictionary.com added the term “BIPOC” — a label made popular by racial activists on college campuses — to its lexicon.
On March 11, the digital dictionary service announced that “BIPOC,” which stands for “Black, Indigenous, and People of Color,” was one of 600 new words uploaded to the site.
🚨 New word alert! 🚨
”BIPOC,” which is an abbreviation for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, is one of the 600 words we just added to https://t.co/OeJELgy3YL. https://t.co/GH51NqxkT9— Dictionary.com (@Dictionarycom) March 11, 2021
Dictionary.com defines “Black, Indigenous, and People of Color” as a “unifying identity label for people of color that also emphasizes the unique racial experiences of Black people and Indigenous people.”
[RELATED: ‘Anti-racism’ advocates come for the books]
“Black and Indigenous People of Color” — a slight variant of the phrase — is “used as a more specific identity label than people of color, intended to emphasize the unique racial experiences of Black people and Indigenous people as contrasted with other nonwhite groups.”
One can also use the acronym “BIPOC” as an adjective — for example, by referring to “BIPOC faculty mentors.”
The New York Times believes that the term “BIPOC” first appeared as early as 2013. However, as Campus Reform has reported, campus activists quickly popularized the term after the death of George Floyd in the summer of 2020.
For instance, Campus Reform reported that the editorial board of Emory University’s student newspaper penned an article stating that BIPOC should receive an exemption from eventually receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. The authors argued that “marginalized communities are rightfully wary of the vaccine due to the medical community’s historical maltreatment” of BIPOC.
[RELATED: Emory student newspaper: Require COVID-19 vaccine, but not for minority students]
More recently, Tulane University posted a teaching assistant application stating that “priority will be given to BIPOC applicants.”
[RELATED: Tulane gave ‘priority’ to ‘Black’ and ‘People of Color’ job applicants. It doesn’t anymore.]
Campus Reform reached out to Dictionary.com for comment; this article will be updated accordingly.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @BenZeisloft
