5 ms·

Capitalizing "Black" is part of the New York Times style guide. I don't think it's reasonable to assume ulterior motive. They could just be following a journali

Capitalizing "Black" is part of the New York Times style guide. I don't think it's reasonable to assume ulterior motive. They could just be following a journalistically-accepted style guide. According to [1], the NYT style guide capitalizes "Black" because "it refers to a shared cultural identity (like Latino, Asian, and Native American). "Brown" is not capitalized because it refers to a wide range of cultures, and "white" doesn't represent a shared culture and history, and additionally is capitalized by hate groups. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/05/insider/capitalized-black.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/05/insider/capitalized-black...

dude187 5y ago
Doing that is a form of bigotry though, just one that unfortunately a lot of less honest but mainstream media outlets have come to demand.
bagels 5y ago
Do blacks have shared cultural identity? I would think that there is a gulf in culture across Africa, let alone island nations and Americans that are black.
- a-dub 5y ago
  yes they do and you should read about it! the fact that you're asking makes this especially important!
maccolgan 5y ago
>"white" doesn't represent a shared culture and history I think this is pretty objectively false, if it were true, then the white-black dichotomy wouldn't work.
- dragonwriter 5y ago
  > >"white" doesn't represent a shared culture and history > I think this is pretty objectively false, It’s imprecisely stated, perhaps, but it gets at the real difference. Perhaps more accurately, “‘white’ is not usually the primary ethnic identity of the people to whom it, as a racial label, applies, in the United States.” > if it were true, then the white-black dichotomy wouldn't work. The real difference in the degree to which the two identify a shared culture is central to the dichotomy. The Black American experience of White racism involves the forced erasure of preexisting, more specific historical culture communities, ties, traditions, and identity. The White American experience leaves more specific ethnic identities intact and generally dominant over White identity except among a subset within White supremacists.
Izkata 5y ago
> July 5, 2020 This both confirms my statement that it's a recent trend, and that it's political instead of just about race(ism).
- dude187 5y ago
  The bigoted unequal capitalization of racial labels is certainly political, and has spread rapidly since the 2020 BLM riots. However, it predates this current iteration of them. It has existed at least since the Trump election, probably more into the Obama administration when the left really tried to ramp up the race divide and created things like the MAGA movement.

dude187 5y ago

Doing that is a form of bigotry though, just one that unfortunately a lot of less honest but mainstream media outlets have come to demand.

bagels 5y ago

Do blacks have shared cultural identity? I would think that there is a gulf in culture across Africa, let alone island nations and Americans that are black.

a-dub 5y ago
yes they do and you should read about it! the fact that you're asking makes this especially important!

maccolgan 5y ago

>"white" doesn't represent a shared culture and history I think this is pretty objectively false, if it were true, then the white-black dichotomy wouldn't work.

dragonwriter 5y ago
> >"white" doesn't represent a shared culture and history > I think this is pretty objectively false, It’s imprecisely stated, perhaps, but it gets at the real difference. Perhaps more accurately, “‘white’ is not usually the primary ethnic identity of the people to whom it, as a racial label, applies, in the United States.” > if it were true, then the white-black dichotomy wouldn't work. The real difference in the degree to which the two identify a shared culture is central to the dichotomy. The Black American experience of White racism involves the forced erasure of preexisting, more specific historical culture communities, ties, traditions, and identity. The White American experience leaves more specific ethnic identities intact and generally dominant over White identity except among a subset within White supremacists.

Izkata 5y ago

> July 5, 2020 This both confirms my statement that it's a recent trend, and that it's political instead of just about race(ism).

dude187 5y ago
The bigoted unequal capitalization of racial labels is certainly political, and has spread rapidly since the 2020 BLM riots. However, it predates this current iteration of them. It has existed at least since the Trump election, probably more into the Obama administration when the left really tried to ramp up the race divide and created things like the MAGA movement.