Why the Tri-City Herald is now capitalizing Black to identify culture
The Tri-City Herald is now capitalizing the word “Black” when referring to a culture, ethnicity or group of people, and we want you to understand why.
Capitalizing Black puts the word on equal footing with other capitalized descriptors of people and culture, such as Latino, Native American and Italian American. It reflects shared culture and experiences.
You may still see some wire stories, such as those from The Associated Press, using the previous style, but other news organizations have already made this change.
All McClatchy news sites in the country are making the change after listening to Black readers and the National Association of Black Journalists. In Washington, McClatchy owns The News Tribune in Tacoma, The Bellingham Herald and The Olympian, as well as the Tri-City Herald.
We will not capitalize “white” when referring to white people. White describes a skin color, and when ethnicity is relevant, we will ask the source his/her ethnicity (of German descent, Russian heritage, etc.).
There is no change to our previous policy that we do not include the race of someone in custody or of a crime victim unless the person’s race is clearly relevant.
For example, in the case of a suspected hate crime that police believe is motivated by race, the races of the suspect and victim would be relevant. When describing a crime suspect at large or a missing person, race is used only along with other specifically identifiable descriptors, such as height and weight, clothing, hair color and tattoos, when a clear photograph is not available.
George Floyd’s death has ignited weeks of protests in the Tri-Cities and nationwide. While the crisis is national, the change we can make is here, in our community.
▪ Laurie Williams, Editor, Tri-City Herald
