Hey, white people, listen up. I am half white. My husband is white. My son, he came out white. It was crazy. I was staring at him for like 10 minutes because, I don’t know what I thought was going to happen, but he came out white with blue eyes. And I just kept looking at him. Like, I couldn’t believe it, and then he’s still white. And this is the thing: We don’t hate white people. We love Black people and we hate police brutality and racism. And what white people need to understand is that they don’t have the same experiences as us.
Effective yesterday, The New York Times began capitalizing the word “Black” when describing people and cultures of African origin. “We believe this style best conveys elements of shared history and identity, and reflects our goal to be respectful of all the people and communities we cover,” Dean Baquet, the executive editor, and Phil Corbett, another senior editor, wrote in a memo.
The Times will not be capitalizing the word “white.” As Dean and Phil explained: “There is less of a sense that ‘white’ describes a shared culture and history. Moreover, hate groups and white supremacists have long favored the uppercase style, which in itself is reason to avoid it.”
You have white privilege but not white culture.