Why is ‘Black’ not capitalized?

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  • #27174

    Deenie25811
    Member

    Because these terms are technically incorrect, anyway. In publications like that, if they are saying ‘Caucasian,’ then they should be saying ‘African American’, too.

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    Name : Deenie25811, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Buddhist, Age : 13, City : Richmond, State : VA, Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : Less than High School Diploma, Social class : Upper middle class, 
    #17291

    Laura26057
    Member

    All of the others (Caucasians, Latinos, Asians, and Mid-Easterners) are based on locations (Caucasus, Latin America, Asia, Middle East), which are capitalized, while black is a color. When talking about whites, the ‘w’ would not be capitalized, either.

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    Name : Laura26057, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 26, City : Baltimore, State : MD, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 
    #16971

    Matt
    Member

    Most articles, if they use the term ‘white’ to refer to an ethnic group, do not capitalize it either. I think they’re simply following common rules of grammar. ‘Caucasian’ and ‘Asian’ tend to be capitalized because the Caucascus Mountains and Asia are proper nouns. Latin, being a proper noun, is also supposed to be capitalized, so its derivative Lation is, too. Even ‘the Middle East’ is usually capitalized when refering to a specific location. And ‘African American’ is supposed to be capitalized, too. However, black and white – and red, brown, or yellow, although those have fallen out of favor for ethnic references – are simply colors, and so they are not capitalized.

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    Name : Matt, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 25, City : Oxford, State : GA, Country : United States, Occupation : Engineer, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 
    #16754

    Steven
    Member

    Black is not capatalized for the same reason ‘white’ is not : the terms are broadly used descriptions of race, but not the correct term for an ethnicity. African American is capitalized just like Caucasian because these words describe a proper ethnicity, but the term black or white is not a proper term. They are more or less just a description for a race.

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    Name : Steven, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Lutheran, Age : 24, City : Charleston, State : SC, Country : United States, Occupation : student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 
    #14076

    Dan31685
    Member

    It’s because black is not a race but a racial designation. However, if you feel slighted, file a lawsuit. I’m sure it will be changed to suit your preference in the PC US of A.

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    Name : Dan31685, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, City : Cleveland, State : OH, Country : United States, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 
    #13890

    Matt
    Member

    It’s a question of style and usage. Neither ‘white’ nor ‘black’ are generally capitalized in print. The problem is that if ‘black’ were capitalized, ‘white’ would have to be, too. Capitalizing ‘white’ is associated with the writings of white supremacist groups. It also implies that whites are a single ethnic group, which many whites would find debatable. To be even-handed, the guys who wrote style books decided that if ‘white’ shouldn’t be capitalized, neither should ‘black.’

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    Name : Matt, Gender : M, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Age : 30, City : Dallas, State : TX, Country : United States, Occupation : Attorney, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 
    #14949

    Marie
    Member

    Personally, I think if one is going to use the words ‘black’ or ‘white’ to describe a person, they SHOULD be ‘Black’ or ‘White.’ There is no other ethnicity, that I can recall, who is commonly described by ‘skin’ tone. And not all Blacks are African-American, are they? What is a Black who was born in England called? Anglo-African? Or in China? African-Asian? Honestly, I’m curious. Is anyone who is Black and not born in Africa grouped into the African-American classification? But in the US it seems to be a toss-up between black and African-American as to what one prefers to be called. Therefore, Black would seem appropriate, IMO. And it would just seem like the natural progression from using Black to using White. It’s not like these words really describe skin color anyway. Everyone on this planet is some shade of brown.

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    Name : Marie, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 36, City : Jeffersonville, State : IN, Country : United States, Social class : Upper middle class, 
    #34035

    Betty
    Member

    Names like ‘Caucasian’ and ‘Asian’ come from the proper names of places. ‘Black’ and ‘white’ aren’t derived from proper names; they come from adjectives. It’s not rooted in racism at all.

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    Name : Betty, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Bisexual, Race : Asian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 17, City : Medford, State : MA, Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : Less than High School Diploma, Social class : Lower middle class, 
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