The term BIPOC itself is a symbol of defiance. It seems simple, but within the five letters, it encompasses years of struggle, defiance, bearing indifference and ignorance, and finally, the outpouring of collective emotion. BIPOC signifies that all people of colour do not face the same struggle and levels of injustice and has been instrumental in recognizing that Black and Indigenous people are severely impacted by systemic racial injustices.
It is maybe the best time to be a BIPOC community member in the USA, with the rise and rapid spread of social awareness and the outpouring of support and encouragement the world over. However, it is a slow process to realize the various intricacies involved in the day-to-day lives of the people of this community and to conceptualize and implement a way to collectively improve community awareness, lifestyle, and the removal of unfair bias.
Since we are still going through COVID-19, let’s discuss how this community fared during these times:
According to MedicalNewsToday, the Black community comprises 13-15% of the US population, but 27% of the COVID-19 cases in the US.
New York Times says that 11.9% of employees in the US are Black but comprise 17% of the frontline workers, further increasing the infection and death toll due to COVID-19.
According to Pew Research Center, 49% of the Latinx community say they or someone in their household lost their jobs or had to take a pay cut.
According to Axios, the death toll for the community is 2.5 times that for the white population.
The Native American and indigenous communities didn’t fare much better as the lack of hospital beds, infection rate, lack of ventilators, and the understated numbers are prominent issues.
Additionally, the Asian community also faced troubles with racism, decreased business, and xenophobia.
BIPOC Project and its impact
Although COVID-19 inflicted widespread destruction across the world, its impact was akin to a heat missile on the marginalized communities. All the existing societal problems were magnified tenfold. Unfortunately, due to the lack of representation for these communities, there is a dearth of data to substantialize the impact. This has served to highlight just how understated have been the problems these communities have gone through.
The BIPOC Project has highlighted the severity of the impact this community has faced pre-COVID-10 and has continued to make vocal the need for representation for these communities. The reason is that only with representation will there be a substantial and collective step to move in the right direction and seek the upliftment of this community as a whole. The issues they have addressed are:
Implicit Bias: This is like a habit that just refuses to leave. His unconscious attitudes and stereotypes and the generalizations that traumatized the members in more ways than one and the impact has been severely understated and underestimated.
Health Conditions: Though there is unnecessary bias, it cannot be denied that certain sections of these communities are neglected, and their health conditions, especially during COVID-19, are significantly worse than the white community Work Environment: The work behaviour and lifestyle for this community are significantly different from the overall white community. Though it is not on the surface, it exists.
At Blacks United, we seek to rediscover the pride and unity among the Black Community. Blacks first is not a cult cry or a call to action, it is a cry to hold hands together and rediscover us as a community and our identity in each other. It is to lift our fellow people and let them know that we stand with them. Join us now and stand with us as well hope to strengthen this chain that holds us all together.
