Black And White All Over

Last week the New York Times announced that they would begin capitalizing the “black” in “Black Americans” immediately. This was a break from convention. The word “Negro” has always been capitalized; African-American has naturally been capitalized; the word black, as applied to American Negroes, has not. So this was kind of a big deal. (For reference, “white” has also by long tradition been rendered in all lower case letters.)

I don't read all of the still-available newspapers from America, neither those of the USA Today variety, nor the undead remnants of local newspapers like the L.A. Times, etc. If I did, I would have noticed that other papers had already made the shift. It will come as a surprise to no one that I find this annoying.

My guidance in using the term “black Americans” came not only from dictionaries and style books, but also from its usage by W.E.B. Du Bois, author of, inter alia, “The Souls of Black Folk,” and from the personal experience of being scolded by black, not Black, friends on a website from the early 2010s that I was extremely fond of, called “We Are Respectable Negroes.” (The irony, take my word for it, was intentional.) The outpouring of racism and white supremacy that accompanied President Obama's time in office had piqued my interest in the subject of racism in America. There were vigorous daily conversations in the comment threads, and I joyfully participated. Long time readers of this blog may remember that somewhere around 2013 I switched from “Black” to “black.” I had been capitalizing Black, because I felt that “black” seemed disrespectful. I had been doing that on this blog for four years already, and race has always been a frequent topic of mine. Black Americans are so much more than their color. There is a proud history there, and a deep, shared culture. Shared, in fact, with the rest of us Americans; American culture itself has been shaped and molded importantly by its black, or Black, components. The black American experience is unique among the black skinned members of the race Homo Sapiens. Strictly in the interest of uniformity, I also capitalized “White.” That was the deal breaker for my friends on the web site, and they were kind enough to gently educate me on the subject.

They would, all of them, cheerfully tolerate the small “black” to avoid the capital “White.” They had no objections to black. It was, after all, the common usage among black writers and civil rights leaders. “White” was a must to avoid, smacking so strongly of White Power, etc.

I read the Time's announcement with a snarl on my lips, thinking that it must be part of this “New Woke Vocabulary” that we are all being forced to adopt. This annoyed me, although the reasons given by the Times were similar to my feelings before being corrected by friends. My first question was: will White also be capitalized?

The answer, of course, is no. That would be white supremacism! Here is a quote from the Time's coverage of Trump's “press conference” at the White House yesterday:

“he denied that Black Americans suffered from police brutality more than white Americans.”

Google Results:

The Diversity Style Guide

The subject is addressed at some length on diversitystyleguide.com.

'...most journalism style guides, like those of the Associated Press and the New York Times, call for putting both “white” and “black” in all lowercase letters.' So we can assume that this wave of change has only recently arisen from the always shifting currents of language.

“The National Association of Black Journalists does not capitalize Black in its publications, including the NABJ Style Guide.”

“The Chicago Manual of Style [allows] capitalization if an author or publication prefers.”

All of this suggests that the proposed change is controversial, and that the whole matter is currently in a state of flux.

The Atlantic Magazine

There is a big article addressing this matter in the June 18, 2020 issue. You can find it at theatlantic.com.

The article recognizes that the capitalization of Black leading to the capitalization of White is problematic. It also mentions that using Black to apply to Black Americans with the “same shared culture and experiences,” i.e. the long experience of American slavery and its aftermath, leaves out many black American citizens. Much of the article is devoted to shedding light on some of these problems.

(Fred's editorial comments) I might add, that simply calling the more recently arrived black immigrants “African-Americans” leaves out Jamaicans, for one thing. I think that it's also worth remembering that any visually black person in America is going to be treated with the same bad humor, the same discrimination, and the same contempt, regardless of where they came from or when.

The entire effort to categorize human beings by color is difficult and problematic. Toes will be stepped on. Take the example of Americans from Indian backgrounds who happen to be Tamils. Many Tamils are among the darkest skinned people in the world, although technically they may think of themselves as Indians, and thus Caucasians. Something similar may happen when I say the word, “Polynesian.” You may already be picturing people whose skin is a cheerful copper color. There are many thousands of islands involved, and the inhabitants of many of them are rather dark skinned.

Oregon Live!

I found a recent letter to oregonlive.com. The letter was posted July 2, 2020, and referred to the site's recent switch to “Black,” while sticking with “white.” The writer felt like this new editorial policy was “a slap in the face to white people.”

I could make a joke about which side of the Cascades the letter writer hailed from, but this is a serious matter. America has suffered a huge increase in vocal, demonstrative racism since President Obama was elected. Half of white Americans said, “that's great!” and the other half went crazy. Much of the racist poison that had been kept under a lid boiled over, and the problem is still growing. Failed President DJT loves to stoke the racist fires at every opportunity. (“Confederate flags are free speech!” “Police kill more white people than black!”) Witness all of the Confederate and Nazi flags now in evidence, at Trump rallies and elsewhere.

We don't need to be looking for ways to recruit more white supremacists.

Cost Benefit Analysis:

What are the costs and benefits of switching at this delicate moment from black and white to Black and White, or Black and white?

Does the benefit envisioned accrue to black Americans? Is it intended to be a marker of their value, or of our love for them? I cannot presume to speak for black Americans, but the black Americans that I know share a few characteristics. They are hard-nosed realists, for one thing. They will not be influenced by semantic changes, living, as they do, in a world that is crying out for major changes addressing very real problems. They are also a bit suspicious by nature, having long experienced the differences between what the (white) authorities say, and what they do. Do not expect any big benefit from an outpouring of good will in either direction on the issue of Black vs. black. Blacks will not be swayed by tiny changes in grammar masquerading as encomiums.

Is there a Cost? If there were any chance at all that capitalizing Black would push the current tendency towards growing racism in American culture, I would shit-can the entire idea so fast that its head would spin.