A white man fatally shoots 3 Black people at a Florida store in a hate crime, then kills himself

railsdev, 9 months ago

Why do they capitalize “Black” so many times in the article? I thought maybe I’m crazy and there’s some grammatical rule about it but “white” is never capitalized.

CynAq, 9 months ago

It’s a form of micro-marginalization. Some people do it without realizing, some do it intentionally. Just another way to “other” some demographic in a subtle way.

You can see it done with the words indigenous and native too.

DessertStorms, 9 months ago

It's literally the fucking opposite
https://www.cjr.org/analysis/capital-b-black-styleguide.php

albinanigans, 9 months ago

I just want to know how the fuck did you come to this conclusion.

AmidFuror, 9 months ago

He's unintentionally micromarginalizing people of color looking for a shared identity and sense of community.

DessertStorms, 9 months ago

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/capital-b-black-styleguide.php

railsdev, 9 months ago

This is so informative. In programming I’d know to search “style guide” but for some reason when it comes to real writing the search term didn’t come to mind. Thanks!

wrath-sedan, 9 months ago

Different orgs use different style guides as some have already said. In almost all Black is capitalized, whereas white is rarely capitalized but you still see it occasionally.

I’m torn on white/White personally. The reason given by most is that it falls in line with white supremacist rhetoric, and generally has been capitalized exclusively in that context. Totally valid argument to not use it for that reason.

On the other hand I think leaving it lowercase risks making it an assumed default state, or makes it so that white people think of “racial” issues as something that does not include them. Plus allowing white supremacists to decide what is or isn’t whiteness and how we talk about it I think is a bad idea…

More from the AP blog here on their use of Black/white.

railsdev, 9 months ago

Yeah, it seems like I stumbled upon a very complex issue. Now I suppose I don’t prefer any one writing style as they all seem to have pitfalls.