AP Stylebook: AP changes writing style to capitalize "b" in Black

SOURCE: APNews.com/, 2020-06-19

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The Associated Press changed its writing style guide Friday [2020-06-19] to capitalize the "b" in the term Black when referring to people in a racial, ethnic or cultural context, weighing in on a hotly debated issue.

The change conveys "an essential and shared sense of history, identity and community among people who identify as Black, including those in the African diaspora and within Africa," John Daniszewski, AP's vice president of standards, said in a blog post Friday [2020-06-19]. "The lowercase black is a color, not a person."

The news organization will also now capitalize Indigenous in reference to original inhabitants of a place.

Daniszewski said the revisions aligned with long-standing identifiers such as Latino, Asian American and Native American. He said the decision followed more than two years of research and debate among AP journalists and outside groups and thinkers.

"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," he wrote. "We believe this change serves those ends."

The AP said it expects to make a decision within a month on whether to capitalize the term white. Among the considerations are what that change might mean outside the United States.

Update [2020-07-21]: AP style will continue to lowercase the term white in racial, ethnic and cultural senses. This decision follows our move last month [2020-06-19] to capitalize Black in such uses. We consulted with a wide group of people internally and externally around the globe and considered a variety of commentary in making these decisions.

An ongoing debate over capitalization of Black accelerated in many U.S. newsrooms in recent weeks as journalists grappled with massive protests and sweeping changes in the aftermath of George Floyd's death at the hands of police.

The Los Angeles Times, USA Today and NBC News last week embraced capitalization, and the National Association of Black Journalists urged other news organizations to follow.

The AP Stylebook of usage policies is highly influential in the industry, with many news organizations, government and public relations agencies using it as a guide.

The death of Floyd, a Black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee to his neck, sparked nationwide protests and lent momentum to a variety of social changes, from police reform and the public removal of Confederate statues and flags to the capitalization of Black.

"It's certainly long overdue," said Doris Truong, director of training and diversity at the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank. "It's something that people who are Black have been calling for for a long time."

It's also a relatively simple step for news organizations dealing anew with many complex issues, such as whether their journalists can be opinionated on social media or march in Black Lives Matter demonstrations.

Nearly a century ago, sociologist W.E.B. DuBois waged a letter-writing campaign to get newspapers to capitalize Negro, saying a lowercase "n" was a sign of disrespect and racism. The New York Times took his advice in 1930, calling it an act of recognition and respect for those who'd spent generations in "the lower case."

Negro fell out of fashion with the Black Power movement of the 1960s, coming to symbolize subservience. African American was often used, but is not always accurate -- some Black people don't trace their lineage to Africa.

One Black communications professional who published an open letter to the AP earlier this week calling for the capitalization said Friday he was pleased that the change happened on Juneteenth, which commemorates when the last enslaved African Americans learned they were free 155 years ago.

"Not having a capital letter has felt disrespectful," said David Lanham, director of communications for the Brooking Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program. "There is a shared cultural identity with Black Americans and that goes through our shared experiences. That also goes to the lack of geographic history as a result of slavery."

The Seattle Times and Boston Globe both changed their practices to capitalize Black late last year. The Globe explained that the word has evolved from a description of a person's skin color to signify a race and culture, and deserves the uppercase treatment much the way other ethnic terms do.

Lanham, who spearheaded an internal process to capitalize Black at Brookings last year, said he expects AP's shift will lead many other news organizations and other groups to make a similar change.

"Knowing how closely their Stylebook is viewed as the Bible for journalism, this is now the big domino to fall," he said.

AP Stylebook: The decision to capitalize Black

We are today making an important change to AP style that stems from a long and fruitful conversation among news leaders, editors and diverse members of our staff and external groups and organizations

SOURCE: APNews.com/, 2020-06-19

AP's style is now to capitalize Black in a racial, ethnic or cultural sense, conveying an essential and shared sense of history, identity and community among people who identify as Black, including those in the African diaspora and within Africa. The lowercase black is a color, not a person.

We also now capitalize Indigenous in reference to original inhabitants of a place.

These changes align with long-standing capitalization of other racial and ethnic identifiers such as Latino, Asian American and Native American. 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. We believe this change serves those ends.

As a global news organization, we are continuing to discuss within the U.S. and internationally whether to capitalize the term white. Considerations are many and include any implications that doing so might have outside the United States.

We continue to discuss other terms, including minorities and people of color, as well as the term "Black, Indigenous and people of color."

Our revisions come after more than two years of in-depth research and discussion with colleagues and respected thinkers from a diversity of backgrounds, both within and from outside the cooperative. The updates become part of the AP Stylebook's race-related coverage guidance, which begins:

"Reporting and writing about issues involving race calls for thoughtful consideration, precise language, and an openness to discussions with others of diverse backgrounds about how to frame coverage or what language is most appropriate, accurate and fair.

"Avoid broad generalizations and labels; race and ethnicity are one part of a person's identity. Identifying people by race and reporting on actions that have to do with race often go beyond simple style questions, challenging journalists to think broadly about racial issues before having to make decisions on specific situations and stories.

"In all coverage -- not just race-related coverage -- strive to accurately represent the world, or a particular community, and its diversity through the people you quote and depict in all formats. Omissions and lack of inclusion can render people invisible and cause anguish."

We welcome your thoughts at: https://apstylebook.com/suggestions.

AP Stylebook: Why we will lowercase white

See also [2020-07-20]: AP says it will capitalize Black but not white. After changing its usage rules last month to capitalize Black in race and culture stories, The Associated Press says it will not do the same with 'white' in its influential Stylebook.
AP style will continue to lowercase the term white in racial, ethnic and cultural senses. This decision follows our move last month [2020-06-19] to capitalize Black in such uses. We consulted with a wide group of people internally and externally around the globe and considered a variety of commentary in making these decisions.

There was clear desire and reason to capitalize Black. Most notably, people who are Black have strong historical and cultural commonalities, even if they are from different parts of the world and even if they now live in different parts of the world. That includes the shared experience of discrimination due solely to the color of one's skin.

There is, at this time, less support for capitalizing white. White people generally do not share the same history and culture, or the experience of being discriminated against because of skin color. In addition, we are a global news organization and in much of the world there is considerable disagreement, ambiguity and confusion about whom the term includes.

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.

Some have expressed the belief that if we don't capitalize white, we are being inconsistent and discriminating against white people or, conversely, that we are implying that white is the default. We also recognize the argument that capitalizing the term could pull white people more fully into issues and discussions of race and equality. We will closely watch how usage and thought evolves, and will periodically review our decision.

As the AP Stylebook currently directs, we will continue to avoid the broad and imprecise term brown in racial, ethnic or cultural references. If using the term is necessary as part of a direct quotation, we will continue to use the lowercase.

For more details, see the AP Stylebook's race-related coverage guidance, which says in part: "Consider carefully when deciding whether to identify people by race. Often, it is an irrelevant factor and drawing unnecessary attention to someone's race or ethnicity can be interpreted as bigotry."

The guidance also says:
AP coverage of racial injustice issuesapnews.com/Racialinjustice
Suggestions for the AP Stylebook team may be submitted online

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