Earlier this month we told you that the Associated Press announced an update to their stylebook to include “white” in lowercase and “Black” in uppercase when the words are used in reference to human beings.
Many days later, the AP Stylebook folks, for one reason or another, thought an explanation was in order:
The AP decision to continue lowercasing the term white in racial, ethnic and cultural senses was more complicated than last month’s decision to capitalize Black. #APStyleChat (1/5)
— APStylebook (@APStylebook) July 29, 2020
Apparently a lot went into the decision:
We heard many reasons to capitalize Black. Arguments include: People who are Black have strong historical and cultural commonalities (and differences, of course). In many places, that includes the shared experience of discrimination due solely to skin color. #APStyleChat (2/5)
— APStylebook (@APStylebook) July 29, 2020
We found, at this time, less support for capitalizing white and no clearly accepted argument as to why to do so. White people generally do not share similar history and culture, or the experience of being discriminated against because of skin color. #APStyleChat (3/5)
— APStylebook (@APStylebook) July 29, 2020
We also consider common usage. While the capitalized Black has been rapidly adopted, the same is not true for white. #APStyleChat (4/5)
— APStylebook (@APStylebook) July 29, 2020
We will closely watch how usage and thought evolves, and will periodically review our decision. #APStyleChat (5/5)
— APStylebook (@APStylebook) July 29, 2020
In other words, their decision is subject to a rethink that might be caused by any shift in the narrative of the day.
"Writing about people differently based on skin color is complicated." https://t.co/WjnF37mODT
— Aldous Huxley's Ghost™ (@AF632) July 29, 2020
GP Your decision is racist. You're treating people differently based on the color of their skin. https://t.co/hKBlZExh0m
— The Gormogons (@Gormogons) July 29, 2020
Uh, this seems racist to me. Call me crazy, but if *we* should *all* be *equal*… https://t.co/6lfJnUDriX
— Tim Morrison (@TimMorrison) July 29, 2020
Very curious as to the demographic of these decision makers https://t.co/tJUL5CCxIS
— Jopseh (@manjoseph) July 29, 2020
There is probably a good discussion to be had on this topic.. but Twitter is NOT the medium for it. https://t.co/7wIthNK8Mz
— Ryan Finfrock (@RyanFinfrock) July 29, 2020