Why Do We Need to Capitalize 'B' in Black?

Hardika Singh

hs152416@ohio.edu

 

The Associated Press Stylebook made the historic decision to capitalize "b" in "Black" when used in a racial, ethnic or cultural context on Juneteenth this year after other media outlets, such as USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, NBC News, Buzzfeed News and others, changed their practices. 

"Our discussions on style and language consider many points, including the need to be inclusive and respectful in our storytelling and the evolution of language," AP Stylebook said in a blog post. "We believe this change serves those ends." 

USA Today Managing Editor Michael McCarter said in an opinion column that by capitalizing Black, the publication aims to communicate its understanding and respect for how Black people and descendants from Africa describe themselves, which reflects a multitude of shared cultures. "It also puts Black on equal footing with other ethnoracial identifiers, such as Native Americans and African Americans," McCarter said.

Picture source: The Washington Times

After George Floyd's murder in May, many newsrooms began discussions on how to describe members of the Black community, who have hardly been asked how they identify themselves. Many argue that the AP Stylebook, which serves as a standard for news writing, should be updated to reflect respect and evolvement of language, especially because a capital letter signals importance in the mind of a reader, Slate staff writer Julia Craven said in an article.

Those who stand against the capitalization ask why "white" is not capitalized. The AP Stylebook said it is currently discussing whether it will capitalize "white" and highlighted in a blog article that white doesn't represent "cultural connotations." Instead, it represents the white supremacist movements and argued against it as it "risks subtly conveying legitimacy to such beliefs." The AP Stylebook also noted that white people were not kidnapped, brought to a foreign nation, forced to start from nothing and discriminated on the basis of skin color for centuries. 

These discussions pertaining to capitalization are not new. W.E.B. DuBois, a Black sociologist, was one of the first documented people to argue in favor of capitalization and even started a letter-writing campaign that demanded book publishers and newspapers to not ignore more than eight million Americans. Other Black publications such as Ebony and Essence have always used the capitalization. 

By taking the stance that Black should be capitalized, the AP Stylebook does with its power what other organizations and individuals must also do: use that power to lead to equity for minorities. The capitalization is a small step toward an inclusive community in the grand scheme of an inherently racist American society, but it still helps legitimize and normalize Blackness in media.