I’m not pointing fingers at anyone. I’m simply trying to educate, because it seems like a lot of people either don’t know this, or don’t understand it, and probably a few just can’t be bothered. But it actually does matter.
Should I capitalize the B in black?
“When speaking of a culture, ethnicity or group of people, the name should be capitalized. 'Black' with a capital 'B' refers to people of the African diaspora. Lowercase 'black' is simply a color.”
June 28, 2022
Is black capitalized in AP style?
AP's style is now to capitalize Black in a racial, ethnic or cultural sense, conveying an essential and shared sense of history, identity and community among people who identify as Black, including those in the African diaspora and within Africa. The lowercase black is a color, not a person.
Jun 19, 2020
There is a good article that goes in depth as to how and why the Associated Press made this decision in 2020.
We also now capitalize Indigenous in reference to original inhabitants of a place.
These changes align with long-standing capitalization of other racial and ethnic identifiers such as Latino, Asian American and Native American. Our discussions on style and language consider many points, including the need to be inclusive and respectful in our storytelling and the evolution of language. We believe this change serves those ends.
blog.ap.org/...'s%20style%20is%20now%20to,a%20color%2C%20not%20a%20person.
Of course, there are arguments against this. The usual tired arguments, similar to those who oppose equal housing laws and Affirmative Action. And others. I’m going to link one such article here, but I honestly believe the main problem is simply unawareness. So please understand, I’m not here to lecture, point fingers, or anything negative at all. I just want to inform our community.
Why is Black spelled with a capital 'B' and white lowercase? It's divisive
...Put another way, “white” has a broad and wide-ranging meaning, culturally. A “white” person could have descended from Irish, Italian, Russian, British, Jewish, Catholic or protestant ancestors...
“Black,” meanwhile, is connected to the shared experience and legacy of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, which shipped 12.5 million Africans to North and South America and the Caribbean.
The ripple effects can be seen to this day in the form of anti-education bills circulating in state legislatures around the nation (including Arizona), seeking to severely limit how teachers can discuss race in the classroom, ostensibly to fight a boogeyman called “critical race theory.”
www.azcentral.com/...
I find this perspective quite frustrating. To blame the capitalization of the word Black for the anti-education bills and other recent increased oppression of our Black brothers and sisters seems like the ultimate in victim blaming. Personally, I don’t have much of a problem with capitalizing white when referring to anglo people, but that is not my decision to make. In the meantime, I will follow the guidelines as society and grammar dictate. And btw, this is NOT a radical change. It is actually slow in coming.
from: Black with a capital 'B': Why it took news outlets so long to make a change that matters to so many.
Journalism style guides are, by nature, rigid and slow to change, purposefully upholding established rules and conventions. But many activists, academics and journalists of colour say the language used by the news media to describe diverse communities is particularly slow to catch up because there's a lack of diverse voices in news organizations responsible for making such decisions.
Slow change
In 1930, American activist W.E.B. Du Bois was successful in getting the New York Times to start writing the word "Negro" with a capital N.
He had been campaigning for the change since the 1920s. He called the use of a "small letter for the name of 12 million Americans and 200 million human beings a personal insult."
ashmala Fida Mohatarem · CBC News · Posted: Jul 20, 2020 3:00 AM MDT | Last Updated: October 15, 2020
Maybe we as a progressive site can put a little effort into educating ourselves and our friends and family about this. It’s really not that hard, and yet, it really is basic. Do we care, or do we not?
Not knowing about it is one thing, not caring is another. At least to Black people, I would imagine. I, for one, am concerned about the horrible messages that are being sent to them on a daily basis from some of the GOP leaders and their followers in this country — I’m mortified to think of the impact this is having on Black children. It’s important to me to do everything I can to support them. Even if it’s just capitalizing the letter B.
Thank you for reading.