Why is "Black" capitalized while "white" is not?

I noticed this a couple days ago, hoping people can chime in with their opinions. Pull up literally any American news article where race is mentioned, particularly those that call an individual black or white, and notice the grammar. For the last few weeks, the word black is almost always capitalized while the word "white" is never capitalized.

So I guess my question to you all is this; why? Are we putting one race up on a pedestal? Is it to "show support" for one race over another? With all the talks of "equality", this makes zero sense.

Thoughts?

ETA: Examples

www.nbcnews.com...
www.courant.com...
www.aljazeera.com...
www.ndtv.com...
www.nytimes.com...
www.cnn.com...
www.usatoday.com...
www.actionnewsjax.com... 4J53Y6LUM4/
www.cnn.com...
wtop.com...

Sometimes black is capitalized; sometimes it is not. Sometimes white is capitalized; sometimes it is not. It's really not that big of a deal.

a reply to: CharismaticNerd

www.washingtonpost.com...

This recent article from the washington post has both lowercase.

As does this one

www.pewresearch.org...

Care to provide any examples in your op?

a reply to: CharismaticNerd

IMO, Because it's now racist to question black people.
At some point, the school system decided black people were just better in every way, and made policies to teach everyone just that. A decade or so later, a lot of people believe it.
And now we've got white people marching in the street demanding we take away their rights.

a reply to: CharismaticNerd



Here’s a whole article for you..

www.theatlantic.com...


They may write it capitalized but I’m reading it in lower case...

What about Mongolian or Azerbaizani?

Hmmm. Seems dodgy indeed.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: CharismaticNerd



Here’s a whole article for you..

www.theatlantic.com...


They may write it capitalized but I’m reading it in lower case...

I was about to post the same link -- good job beating me to it!

The funny thing about this to me is that back in the day, I was taught to capitalize both White and Black... then the internet shorthand police came along and decided that both should be lower case... now the BLM propagandists want to capitalize "Black" but not "White."

I had just decided to get with the times and use lower case with both. Now I'm going back to capitalizing both for the same reasons I was originally taught to do so.

a reply to: a325nt

We grew up in different times. So I guess we see things through a different set of eyes.

There was no favorable treatment of Blacks/blacks when I was a child.

These photos where taken between the 50s and the early 70s. This was the norm. But many have forgotten. I have not forgotten and I am very happy it changed, There are others that have not forgotten but which for its return.

www.thevintagenews.com...

I dont know why humans considered themselves colors they are not.

a reply to: CharismaticNerd
No humans are actually color black or white, yet the illusion carries on.

Happy 4th also ATS.

originally posted by: Ophiuchus 13
I dont know why humans considered themselves colors they are not.

It is not how people see themselves. It is how others choose to see them.

I've been victim to the either/or for capitalization myself, but in general, I try to NOT capitalize colors, its not necessary. Places like oh, London, location/country origins such as Australian, ethnic origins/cultures such as Inuit, etc, I capitalize.

Our origins aren't out of the Crayola box, FFS, it's not stamped on our proverbial paper wrapper (clothes). Yet.

Mostly to trigger snowflakes who worry about this kind of crap.

a reply to: CharismaticNerd
Thanks for adding examples. Makes you wonder whether it's someone intentionally doing it or something even more insidious as say an update to autocorrect software. How many editors actually go through and correct each individual word these days vs running it through some software?

Furthermore, either way, it's the editors of these publications doing this. It'd be interesting to take a look at the ownership and funding of news stations that do this and those that don't.

a reply to: CharismaticNerd

Some change is subtle. Little things that people don't normally pick up on.

By the time they do, it's already changed.

a reply to: CharismaticNerd

Ughh, because it's damn near a crime being white these days.
We don't deserve a capital letter in our title.
Or so they say

Just to annoy YOU!

a reply to: CharismaticNerd

Why is black not mention but white is when a crime has been reported. Such as two male about give age have just robbed a lquior store. Two white males have just robbed a store.

a reply to: CharismaticNerd

I've seen it and written it both ways, but realized since I'm capitalizing "Asian" most of the time, I should probably capitalize "Black" and "White" also. But then, I don't really care.

originally posted by: PhilbertDezineck
a reply to: CharismaticNerd

Why is black not mention but white is when a crime has been reported. Such as two male about give age have just robbed a lquior store. Two white males have just robbed a store.

In the United States, race is almost always specified. When I was younger, if it wasn't, then it meant "White" - if it was, then it meant whatever "non-White" race the suspect was.

a reply to: dogstar23

Rule 2. Capitalize proper nouns—and adjectives derived from proper nouns.

www.grammarbook.com...

Being derived from Asia (the name of a continent, and thus a proper noun), you are good to go with Asians. As would you be with European or Canadian.