Mrs. Yang and Mrs. Pachal, are the Deforest Area High School supervisors for the club BIPOC. You might be wondering what BIPOC is or what the club stands for; Black Indigenous People of Color, they are a multi-diverse club that talks about the importance of people of color. People are encouraged to come and join their meetings if they are interested in helping the club. The club meeting happens every Monday during the first half of their study hall. 

The club works hard to keep the school up to date with all of the major events happening in the community of people of color. Their biggest goal is to spread awareness of all the events happening to these people and how they are treated. 

Growing up each of the main club members has experienced the difficulties of being a person of color. They were constantly mistreated, mistaken as another ethnicity, bullied, etc. The club understands the hardship of being a person of color and they want to help spread awareness so this mistreatment stops happening in younger generations. 

The whole club wants to emphasize the importance of microaggression. Many people do not know what microaggression is and the word could cause some confusion. Microaggression is  a statement, action, or incident regarded as an unintentional discrimination against members of a racial or ethnic minority. Lydia Vang the Social Media Coordinator stated that “ There are many different ways we could tell the school about microaggression but the real problem is, enforcing what needs to be done. Our club wants to take action into what the school could do to prevent anything like microaggression to never happen again “. As she states her statement she is determined that the club will make it true. 

Just this past winter the club had decided to do a clothing drive to help the Afghanistan refugees. They had a box outside offices at each school district in Deforest that showed what was needed and what they would enjoy. The drive went on for about a week before they had a meeting where they separated all of the clothing into what the refugees needed. The club has also participated in trick or treat night which of course happens in October, at the Harvest Intermediate school with many different ethnic candies. BIPOC is a completely new club but the amount of work they have put into the projects they’ve made is astonishing. They truly have made an impact on the Deforest High School community. They have gotten the acknowledgement of many teachers and have gotten the attention of many students. Lydia the Social Media Coordinator has said that “ We want to be recognized for the work we do for the people of color community, not just as a club here at Deforest “. Not only are they honest with the work they do, but they are all also very humble. 

The club strives to bring in more acknowledgement to the POC (people of color) community. As they have all been through the worst and back, the club wants people to notice the efforts of the POC and how they have impacted our lives. Even though we don’t know how much the POC community has done for us, BIPOC wants to highlight those parts that we don’t notice.

BIPOC has been present during all of the important times where people of color have been through it all. They want all people of color to accept each other and not go against each other. BIPOC highlights things not just for the community outside of the POC but also inside the community because sometimes POC go against each other for no reason. They’re fighting for the same purpose but still somehow end up going up against each other. They want to bring light in for everybody that doesn’t have the knowledge of the community and how hard it is to live in the community in the United States. 

Be sure to follow along their journey by either joining the club, following their social media, or even just spreading the word about the club. They appreciate all the help they can get to bring recognition to their club. The club currently is pretty small despite all of the work they have done. They would appreciate it if you guys could help them grow as a small club and eventually bloom into a bigger community. As again said anything you do to help the club is greatly appreciated. They want to expand and have a better community to help them promote the community of people of color. Follow them on Instagram @deforestbipoc and of course join them during the first half of study halls on Mondays! They hope to see you there!