Ahh,the acid and hate-filled racism of the "anti-racists." It is amusing to see the rhetorical pretzel the author twists himself into to explain this openly-discriminatory practice..

I am concluding my thesis on neighborhood racial diversity and wealth inequality, and I have been trying to find a reasonable use of the titles "black" and "white." The study also has the pan-ethnic groups of Asian and Hispanic, which are all limited as such by the census survey. Asians and Hispanics are just as likely to, as you say, "describe themselves in more defined terms" especially since Japanese and Koreans have very little in common with Filipinos and Indians....etc. For this reason I have "upgraded" the lower case of "white" and "black" since we use them to do the exact same thing when we classify someone as "Asian" or "Hispanic." They are all broad categories and no group should be shown more "respect" through capitalization than another. I am confused at why you think Whites deserve special treatment to not be capitalized because they are not really tangible group. No group is tangible, the diversity within is so great. In fact, in terms of demographic data (wealth, income, housing, etc etc etc), Whites tend to be the most similar to each-other out of all the groups (Asians being least similar). I think the poster before me touched on it. Only Whites can choose whether or not to be placed in a categorical context. By keeping Whites as lower-case and the others not, it really exposes that power of "we'll we're not the same but you all are.".

Capitalize names of races (African American, Caucasian, Asian, Native American), but do not capitalize "black" or "white" when referring to race. .

I totally agree with you--this is a pretzel twist of an explanation. But isn't that what diversity training and management is all about. Why do we need diversity training--how about humanity training. Teach people to see each other's commonalities. Instead diversity training presupposes that there are white people and then there are diverse people. True diversity does not need something to define itself in opposition to. Liberal whites kill me, The reality is you benefit from a biased system from the start. Then suddenly you decide to monetize what u c as a deficiency by unleashing diversity management on the unsuspecting world and expect "diverse" people to be grateful that you capitalize the B in black and give a few bucks to some quote unquote "minority" organizations. Gimme a break. Jan .

I am a Black man and I agree with Luke Visconti, CEO of DiversityInc, on his decision to capitalize the word Black when referring to Black Americans. Most white Americans must realize that Black people have been labeled different names throughout our enslavement. Although, our history DID NOT begin with slavery (we were enslaved), but we have gone from being called, boy, n-word, colored, negro, Afro Americans, African Americans, Black and now minorities. I refuse to be labeled a minority because a minority is a code word which means MINOR. We all know that a minor is not yet a man or woman; they are still considered children, not adults. Therefore, this word has nothing to do with a race people. It is used to classify Black American adults as children. The very word America is a code word for white people. When a Black man commits a crime, his picture is all over the media. A perfect example is the Nigerian man who had explosives on a plane that was landing at Detroit Metro Airport (December 26, 2010). His picture was all over the news media. But, the drunk white male who was trying to open up a door while a plane was in flight was labeled a 'man' (February 18, 2010). The captioned read, "man tries to open plane door while in flight." This was also an act of terrorism because lives could have been lost if he had succeeded to open that door. A terrorist is a person that commits bodily harm or injury to another human being. But, he was labeled a 'man' and his picture or his name was not shown on television, like the Nigerian's picture that was captured at Detroit Metro Airport. Since this incident, this 'man' that tried to open up the door on that plane has been released with no charges! Another incident that happened in Texas where a 'man' crashed his plane into an IRS building (February 18, 2010). He was not labeled a terrorist, but was called furious and angry! Tim McVeigh blew up a federal building in Oklahoma (April 19, 1995). He was not labeled a terrorist, but was only called a 'serial killer.' His headline captioned read, "man blows up federal building." These are just a few examples how the code word 'man' is used to describe white males that commit terrorist crimes. If they were Black, they would have been called terrorists immediately and no excuses would have been made for their violent, terrorist acts. If we are all Americans why is the word Black used, without adding American? Why aren't white Americans labeled European Americans, especially since they usurped the land from the original Black Native American Indians? These Europeans came from England to kill and slaughter the original Black Amerindians who were the first people that inhabited North and South America? You don't call Asian Americans that are citizens of America just Asians. You don't call Japanese Americans that are citizens of America just Japanese, and you don't call Mexican Americans that are citizens of America just Mexicans; then why are Black Americans just labeled as Black? Aren't we citizens of America also? By capitalizing the word Black means authority. What color are the robes of the u.s. judges? What color is the motorcade of President Obama? What color are the robes of most graduates and clegry...BLACK! This word should be capitalized because it refers to a race family that birthed the world. You even stated that humanity began in Africa, therefore EVERYBODY came from the Black race. Finally, I feel if white America has a problem with this word being capitalized, they should go back to the bible and see how the word lucifer is capitalized throughout this book. If a devil can have his name capitalized, why not the word Black? Food for thought this BLACK history month from a future writer. Please reply and hope Jan is reading this. .

This article blatantly shows the disrespect and distain the the multi-culturalist have for white Americans. Amazing that Black and white is ok but black and White is not. Try this on for size...black and white, Black and White. white and black, White and Black. Funny how those who sell "sensitivity" are the least sensitive. You are blind to your own bigotry. .

I'm the last person to suggest that language and social beliefs/policy are not related, but isn't there a place for cold logic on occasion when coming grammatical decisions that make sense and are easily understood and followed? These are both words used to (for better or worse) categorize and define a group of people by the end the monochromatic spectrum to which they are nearest. Capitalizing one and not the other may be culturally sensitive but also nonsensical. Our language's current standards of capitalization call for capitals at the start of sentences and for proper names and a handful of other circumstances. Capitals, outside of textspeak) are generally understood to mean something is specific rather than necessarily important. Capitalization is certainly not guarantee of power or influence. (To the previous commenter: Judges' robes and limos are black in quite a difference sense from African Americans. I've never seen a person the color of a judge's robe, just as, aside from albinos, I've never seen a person the color of a blank piece of paper. Also, Lucifer is capitalized in the Bible because it is the name of an individual, not because that individual is good in any way) Names of groups, unless they are specific or organized groups, are not capitalized. Our society has many, many rules with racist connotations. This is not one of them. If we capitalize black, should we capitalize the other words for ethnic groups based on gross generalizations of the color wheel, such as yellow and red? While admitting that we must fail, let us still strive for objectivity and plainspokenness without prejudice or favor..

I so appreciate this discussion and the cultural significance of descriptors. Even though I look "white" because of my skin color, I intentionally refer to myself as Black American. I'm mixed race with my biological father being Black and German and my mother being Polish American. In the late 1950's, I was adopted as an infant. Back in those days "a drop of colored blood, meant you were "Black." Hence, I was fortunate enough to be adopted by a Black family since Catholic Charities could not place me with any willing white family. And then, having grown up during the 60's and early 70's at the height of the Black Pride and Power Movement, I became even more conscious and sensitive about my decision to proudly refer to myself as Black American. Bottom line, if one wants to build trust early on in a cross-cultural relationship, I believe that it helps immensely to be clear on how you choose to describe yourself racially and ethnically to then safely invite someone else to share their cultural background and preferred descriptors. .

I'm a senior Human Resource professional, who happens to be Black, and I always capitalize both Black and White when referring to ethnic/racial groups. To capitalize one and not the other is ridiculous and culturally insensitive..