Give this to the Washington Post: At least it is being consistent, even if it is in the service of something that is … just ridiculous.
It announced Wednesday that it will now capitalize both the “B” in “black” and the “W” in “white” in its race-related reporting, following closely the lead set by the Associated Press.
“Stories involving race show that White … represents a distinct cultural identity in the United States,” the Washington Post explained Wednesday in a statement. “In American history, many White Europeans who entered the country during times of mass migration were the targets of racial and ethnic discrimination.”
It adds, “These diverse ethnicities were eventually assimilated into the collective group that has had its own cultural and historical impact on the nation. As such, White should be represented with a capital W.”
Likewise, the “B” in “black,” the statement adds, will be capitalized for similar reasons.
“The use of Black is a recognition and acknowledgment not only of the cultural bonds and historical experiences shared by people of African heritage, but also the shared struggles of the descendants of enslaved people, families who immigrated generations ago and more recent immigrants from Africa, the Caribbean and other corners of the world,” the Washington Post explained.
The changes come shortly after the Associated Press announced this month that it would uppercase the “B” in “black” but not the “W” in “white” for its race-related reporting.
“After a review and period of consultation, we found, at this time, less support for capitalizing white,” the international news wire explained at the time. “White people generally do not share the same history and culture, or the experience of being discriminated against because of skin color. In addition, AP is a global news organization and there is considerable disagreement, ambiguity and confusion about whom the term includes in much of the world.”
The statement adds, “We agree that white people’s skin color plays into systemic inequalities and injustices, and we want our journalism to robustly explore those problems. But capitalizing the term white, as is done by white supremacists, risks subtly conveying legitimacy to such beliefs.”
The AP conceded that there are genuine concerns that a failure to capitalize “W” while also capitalizing “B” would represent a significant inconsistency for its AP Stylebook. It also conceded that there are real concerns that leaving the “W” in lowercase implies that white is the default.
Nevertheless, the AP explained, it will continue to capitalize the one and not the other.
At least the Washington Post can say it is being consistent, even if its decisions feel ill-advised and regressive. Indeed, if the ultimate purpose here is the recognition of human dignity, then creating a system whereby it becomes basically impossible to see past a person’s skin color accomplishes the exact opposite goal.
Then again, the racialist stuff that is currently in vogue in U.S. newsrooms and boardrooms tends to produce explicitly racist results because, at its root, the racialist stuff is kind of racist.
