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1/ We have chosen to use the terms Black and non-black POC instead of the sector standard term ‘BAME’ so we thought we’d explain why. Not that terms are everything but what we call ourselves and our communities is important.
2/ Natalie Morris recently explained, terms like ‘BME’/ ‘BAME’/ ‘POC’ etc were created to “signal a unity against discrimination, violence and inequality. But, over time they have been co-opted and their political meanings have been sanitised and flattened.”
3/ One acronym cannot accurately describe so many disparate groups of people.. BAME has been lazily reduced to referencing anyone who isn’t White. One of the WAARU team was once asked, “where do I find the BAME’s?” as if all people who aren’t white hide together...
4/ The reduction of these groups to the term ‘BAME’ means that, in the arts, engagement with these communities is also often reduced to a single approach which is of course unfit.
5/ Moreover because anti-blackness within NBPOC communities isn’t taken into consideration, what happens with many of these engagement opportunities is that Black communities are once again pushed to the back, silenced and ignored.
6/ We know that no designation is perfect.
WAARU has chosen to use the terms Black and NBPOC for many reasons. WAARU was born out of the inadequate responses in Wales to the BLM movement and their call for an anti-racist approach to dismantling systemic oppression.
WAARU has chosen to use the terms Black and NBPOC for many reasons. WAARU was born out of the inadequate responses in Wales to the BLM movement and their call for an anti-racist approach to dismantling systemic oppression.
7/ While we are a group of individuals of all different racial backgrounds, it would be immensely problematic if we did not acknowledge that Black voices and Black issues need to be at the forefront of this conversation and separated out from the issues of NBPOC.
8/ POC is a political designation of solidarity NOT a biological classification and we intend to reclaim it as such.
9/ But Non-Black People Of Colour need to appreciate and fully understand that a language of solidarity calls Non-Black POC to integrate and dismantle the ways they benefit from anti-blackness. This might seem uncomfortable, but it’s time to stand in solidarity with Black people.
10/ To find out more, please watch this clip of Loretta Ross:
To read Natalie Morris’ article: https://metro.co.uk/2020/07/07/bame-debate-why-terminology-matters-when-talking-about-race-12954443
To read Natalie Morris’ article: https://metro.co.uk/2020/07/07/bame-debate-why-terminology-matters-when-talking-about-race-12954443
