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Political Gumbo: Black with a Capital B

Published on Monday, June 15, 2020 | 3:00 am
 

One of the great things about working in local media is the shared respect among editors and reporters.

I know that PW Managing Editor Kevin Uhrich will run into any fight and defend what he thinks is right and KU won’t stop punching for the little guy or demanding accountability until the brawl is over.

Star-News Public Editor Larry Wilson, a lifelong Pasadena resident and one of the founders of the PW, is also not afraid to speak his mind, as he demonstrated this week when he pointed out that the L.A. Times has decided that from now on the paper will use the capitalized Black instead of African American and maintain the lowercase white.

“Yep — for the LAT, it’s Black, and yet it’s white, long the house style of many African-American newspapers,” Larry wrote.

“Linguistic-logics wise, it’s indefensible. But I’m not going to lose any sleep over it or feel insulted,” Larry wrote in his column. “You know what’s insulting? Living in a nation built by African-American backs that still beats and guns down our fellow citizens, descendants of slaves, for whom real freedom has never happened.

“Change that tragic fact and maybe a century from now we can get back to parity in a matter of typographical style.”

Damn Larry, there’s a whole lot of ‘Dena in you.

Respect.

Yes Larry is right. From an AP style standpoint, you can’t argue the point..

He’s also correct about freedom and that freedom point is why I capitalize the B.

As far as the Times, I won’t even comment on the lack of Black reporters in newsrooms across the country

Back to the Big B, somebody once called me about that at the Weekly and ran the “Why don’t you capitalize white like you capitalize Black?” line on me.

My response, “So you’re offended Black and white are not represented equally? Now you know how I feel.”

The caller slammed the phone down.

I identify as Black. Yes, I have called myself African-American from time to time, but I see myself as a Black man with a capital B.

Truth to tell, this debate has been going on in newspaper circles for centuries.

In 1889, W.E.B Dubois pushed back against writing “Negro” with a lowercase “n.”

“Eight million Americans deserve a capital letter,” he said.

The Godfather of Soul James Brown made it an anthem with “Say It Loud I’m Black and I’m Proud.”

Dig the lyrics:

“Now we demand a chance to do things for ourselves

We tired of beatin’ our heads against the wall

And workin’ for someone else look a-here

There’s one thing more I got to say right here

Now, now we’re people, we’re like the birds and the bees

We rather die on our feet than keep livin’ on our knees.”

As my older brother Greg once told me, the Afro and the declaration that Black is something to be proud of was a key moment in the movement.

For years, words like “darkie” and “black” were used to insult Black people. But Black people reclaimed the word Black and made it a badge of honor and used it to define a lifestyle and a movement.

The term African American goes back to 1782. According to Yale Magazine, it appeared as a byline in a pamphlet called “A Sermon on the Capture of Lord Cornwallis.” “By an African American.”

So yes, it does violate AP style to capitalize Black, but then again, AP does not get to define Black for me.

That’s because I am Black and I am proud.

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