Author Topic: Black is now capitalized  (Read 3236 times)

Montecarlo

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Re: Black is now capitalized
« Reply #50 on: September 21, 2020, 08:41:19 AM »
Proper nouns and adjectives have nothing to do with specificity.  It has to do with uniqueness.  There is only one Africa.  There is only one Somalia.  If we take Black to mean "descended from sub-Saharan African ethnicities with dark skin tone," that refers to ONE group of people.

Why doesn't "descended from European ethnicities with light skin tone" have the same merit?

Not all Black people are descended directly from Africa.  I have a friend from Papua New Guinea.  He is certainly Black but isn't from Africa.  The same for Australian Aboriginal people and other people groups around the world.  Maybe if you go back far enough they all come from the same place but it's far enough back that they don't consider themselves African.

Perhaps I am wrong, but here in America I think Black refers closer to sub-Saharan African ethnicity and less skin color.  In that, someone 1/4 Ethiopian and 3/4 white and had fairly light skin tone would be considered "Black" but not a very dark skinned Australian Aboriginal

ericrugiero

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Re: Black is now capitalized
« Reply #51 on: September 21, 2020, 08:52:21 AM »
Proper nouns and adjectives have nothing to do with specificity.  It has to do with uniqueness.  There is only one Africa.  There is only one Somalia.  If we take Black to mean "descended from sub-Saharan African ethnicities with dark skin tone," that refers to ONE group of people.

Why doesn't "descended from European ethnicities with light skin tone" have the same merit?

Not all Black people are descended directly from Africa.  I have a friend from Papua New Guinea.  He is certainly Black but isn't from Africa.  The same for Australian Aboriginal people and other people groups around the world.  Maybe if you go back far enough they all come from the same place but it's far enough back that they don't consider themselves African.

Perhaps I am wrong, but here in America I think Black refers closer to sub-Saharan African ethnicity and less skin color.  In that, someone 1/4 Ethiopian and 3/4 white and had fairly light skin tone would be considered "Black" but not a very dark skinned Australian Aboriginal

I don't disagree but that's where it gets confusing.  Is my friend from Papua New Guinea black (lower case) while someone of African descent is Black (capitalized)?  They have the same skin color and many of the same features.  It doesn't really matter to me, I'm perfectly willing to call people what they prefer, it's just confusing.  I'm also not going to tell my friend he "isn't really Black". 

redbirdfan

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Re: Black is now capitalized
« Reply #52 on: September 21, 2020, 09:04:25 AM »
Either Black or black is fine.  I've only considered myself to be black (no capitalization), but I wouldn't find it offensive either way.  I don't find African-American to be offensive but it can get confusing.  I have non-black friends from Africa - who would be considered Asian or white by ancestry and appearance - who genuinely wanted to know how I could be African-American but they couldn't.  I have no ties to Africa (other than historic genetic ones) and they were literally African-American.  Black or black seems to better encompass what historically negro, colored, Afro-American and African-American intended.