News & Events

Dismantling Racism

“What Is?” series (developed by the General Commission on Religion and
Race).

What Is BIPOC?
Definition:
So, it’s BIPOC now? 
BIPOC (short for Black, Indigenous and People of Color) is a contemporary, umbrella
term for non-European, nonwhite people, who comprise most of the world’s population.
BIPOC includes people of African, Asian, Southeast Asia, Latin American, Pacific
Island, Native Hawaiian, Native American/Indigenous or mixed racial-ethnic ancestry. 
Such changes in terms reflect self-empowerment among BIPOC people, who move to
define themselves instead of being defined—sometimes in error—by white society.  
Example(s) of BIPOC:
Science and Christian faith agree there is only one human race, with some superficial
physical distinctions among groups (hair texture, eye shape, skin tone). Nevertheless,
racial prejudice and system racism arose to establish, justify, and make legal and
socially acceptable the colonialization, dehumanization, systemic violence against,
enslavement and exploitation of nonwhite persons by white nations. 
 White-run systems formerly deemed nonwhite people as “minorities,” but the world
now understands that BIPOC people comprise nearly 75 percent of the global
population.
 Today’s African American/Black people were formerly called “Negroes” or even the
N-word, names given by white people. Native/Indigenous people were misnamed
as “Indians,” because early European explorers to the Americans thought that had
arrived in India.
The term BIPOC is the latest iteration in fostering unity of purpose among marginalized
persons and to uproot racism and white supremacy from social, moral, political,
economic, and religious systems.

Biblical/Spiritual/Theological Framing or References:
Asserting racial/ethnic dominance and scapegoating groups not in power is not new.
Acts 16:16-23 tells the story of colonizers labeling and condemning Jews who are
followers of Jesus Christ. Paul and Silas cast a demon out of an enslaved girl who is a
fortune-teller. When she is healed and no longer profitable for her owners, they report
Paul and Silas to the city magistrates,  
These men are disturbing our city and they are Jews and are advocating customs that
are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observed. The crowd joined in attacking
them and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be
beaten with rods. After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw him into
prison… 
--Acts 16:20-23 (NRSV) 
God calls Christians to love one another and to live in harmony and peace with all
people. Jesus showed a particular affinity for those pushed the economic and social
margins of society. BIPOC communities are among those who remind us that to follow
Christ is to pray and work for end to a racial bias and notions of supremacy in the name
of the One who created and loves us all.
Reflection Questions:
1. Read Acts 16:16-23. Why do you believe the girl’s owners pointed out that Paul and
Silas were Jews? How might they have hoped for by emphasizing Paul and Silas’s
race-ethnicity to the magistrates? 
2. When was the first time you heard or read a racial slur against a Black, Indigenous,
or Person of Color? How did you know that it was a slur? What from your
experience let you know that the word was hurtful? 
3. What has your faith journey taught you about how Christians can confront racial
injustice? What   have you learned from sermons, church school lessons, and Bible
studies? 
Additional Resources:
 What “I Don’t See Color” Really Means (From GCORR) 
 8 Ways Church Leaders Can Move the Conversation Forward (From GCORR)
 Being An Ally with People of Color (From GCORR) 
The following websites and articles helped inform the content of this resource:
 The BIPOC Project
 “What Does BIPOC Mean?” from VeryWell Mind