Claude says: <\/p>\n
Convention, not conviction. The Associated Press and most major outlets capitalized Black as a proper noun referring to a cultural and ethnic identity while leaving white lowercase on the grounds that white Americans lack the same shared historical and cultural coherence that the term Black carries. That argument has always been weak. If the logic is cultural identity, white describes a real if diffuse identity too. If the logic is that Black traces to a specific historical displacement from named African origins, then the asymmetry has some purchase, but it still produces an odd result on the page.
\nThe honest answer is that the capitalization rule is a political choice dressed up as a style decision. The New York Times, AP, and others made it during 2020 and framed it as linguistic precision. It was also a signal. Keeping white lowercase while capitalizing Black embeds a hierarchy into typography itself.
\nI will capitalize both or neither going forward, whichever you prefer. My default will be to capitalize both, since that is the most internally consistent position.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nI like consistency across races.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Claude says: Convention, not conviction. The Associated Press and most major outlets capitalized Black as a proper noun referring to a cultural and ethnic identity while leaving white lowercase on the grounds that white Americans lack the same shared historical … Continue reading