White with a Capital "W"
In support of capitalizing the "W" in White people/person/etc. from a Black woman
I am a Black woman, and I research and write about what I refer to as “redacted grammar and language” in historical narratives. A part of my research is on the capitalization of the word “White” in the context of race. At the core of this conversation is the psychology of branding, our human “brand” being our race/skin color, and how words create either distance or psychological familiarity between us and the people they describe. Lowercasing “w” in “White” does both.
Lowercase “w” in the word White is one of the components of redacted grammar and language because a lowercase “w,” in relation to other races, a lowercase “w” minimizes the social impacts of the racial classification of “White.” The lowercase creates distance between the reader and the societal harm caused by the existence of the racial classification of “White.”
Business/marketing/communications researchers have shown through their research on corporate branding and logos that use all lowercase letters and lowercase words like “white” in the context of race, fostering feelings like warmth, familiarity, and safety in the reader’s minds. And we see this in our society where people of all racial classifications and institutions globally view “White people” of the US and lighter-skinned people globally as safer than those of darker, browner skin.
On the other hand, capitalizing the “W” in White brings the reader’s attention to being “White” and emphasizes its presence: Is White a race? Why is it a race? What makes it a race? Should White be a race?
Until I read it in this thread, I did not consider a link between capitalizing the “W” in White and organizations that are openly white supremacists. In 2020, the The Associated Press (AP) cited this reason as contributing to their decision not to capitalize White in their AP Stylebook. These organizations actually do not need to capitalize the “W” in “White” to bring attention to their belief in the superiority of White people because the lowercase “w” of “White” implies its dominance. The power of the racial category of “White” is a given, it’s the norm.
Look to any group of people in the United States who either Europeans brought to this country and enslaved or were already here and they enslaved, or people who immigrated to the US for the inherent power of being racialized as White. For evidence of the inherent power of being racialized as “White,” look to the case law precedence of a Mexican family, the Mendez, attempting to and succeeding in proving that they were “White” to their school board for their children to gain access to a “better education” at a “White school.” Their school desegregation case preceded Brown vs the Board of Education.
Or, look to an Indian man, Bhagat Singh Thind, who attempted to and failed to prove to the US Supreme Court that he was “White”. The US Supreme Court issued this ruling on Feb. 19, 1913. Or, an older Black family member who told me to straighten my hair for my first college internship interviews to “look as White as possible” to help my chances for employment. That’s the power of power — you don’t have to call attention to it — it just is. And, in the case of the openly white supremacist organizations who feel the need to capitalize a word that already has inherent power — they are unaware that the inherent power already exists.
Here are a few metrics to help you/your organization answer “yes” to the question, “Should you/your organization capitalize the “W” in the word “White?”:
You/Your organization shared any communications about your solidarity with racial equity, with Black Lives Mattering.
You/Your organization understands that a core part of dismantling white supremacy is countering the belief in the racial classification of “White” being the norm for safety in everyday life. How do we do this? We capitalize the “W” in White.
When you choose to capitalize the “W” in “White,” you are communicating that you understand that our society, globally, views White people as the norm and default, and I’ll add, as safe.
On April 23, 2024, Yaba Blay, PhD, author of One Drop: the Shifting Lens on Race, posted a survey to her Instagram account, (@yabablay), that asked respondents to vote on capitalizing the “b/B” in “b/Black (people)” and the “w/W” in “w/White (people).”
![Screenshot of two Instagram posts that say, "When referencing races of people when you write, do you capitalize the "b/B" in "b/Black (people)"? and "When referencing races of people when you write, do you capitalize the "w/W" in "w/White (people)"?](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd0437a12-79a0-4a27-b5c0-89b5588580ed_749x851.jpeg)
![Screenshot of two Instagram posts that say, "When referencing races of people when you write, do you capitalize the "b/B" in "b/Black (people)"? and "When referencing races of people when you write, do you capitalize the "w/W" in "w/White (people)"?](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fca5af504-e834-4391-85bd-3026682b9535_749x854.jpeg)
In the subsequent post, Dr. Blay shared a status update on the poll’s results, author Uju Asika provided an explanation for her writing style choice:
“I capitalise Black and White as well as Brown when it’s in a racial context. When I was writing my first book my editors questioned White with a W as they said it wasn’t standard. But it was a deliberate choice to make White readers reckon with their own racial identity, since they’re too often treated as the default or as if they don’t have a race.”
Yes, capitalizing the word “White” emphasizes the superiority of the racial category: it either emphasizes its superiority for the openly white supremacists or for those practicing racial equity, it emphasizes the harm caused by its superiority. To clarify an organization or individual’s stance, capitalize with context for clarity — share in communications guidelines or a disclaimer of your why.
Before you go, vote below.
Thank you to a member of the Communications Network for starting a thread in the organization's Slack channel in January 2023 that inspired this essay. Thank you for reading. Be kind to yourself and others. Last edit June 30, 2024.
Further Reading/Watching/Listening
NABJ Statement on Capitalizing Black and Other Racial Identifiers
Recognizing Race in Language: Why We Capitalize “Black” and “White”
I’m a Black Scholar Who Studies Race. Here’s Why I Capitalize ‘White.’
AP says it will capitalize Black but not white
A Latino family paved the way for school desegregation. It’s still ‘unknown’ history
The effects of uppercase vs. lowercase letters on consumers’ perceptions and brand attitudes
When the US Supreme Court Ruled That Indians Aren't Legally White
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(un)Redact the Facts is an initiative of wrkSHäp | kiloWatt, a Black woman-owned historic preservation studio owned and operated by k. kennedy Whiters, AIA, that specializes in historic preservation, owner’s representation/construction project management, and history communications/storytelling.
k. kennedy Whiters, AIA is an architect with licenses to practice in New York and Washington State, a published writer, an artist, and a business owner. She was a 2008 recipient of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Mildred Colodny Fellowship. In 2021, she founded Black in Historic Preservation, (un)Redact the Facts, and Beyond Integrity in (X). The latter was a national historic preservation conference that focused on the topic of architectural integrity of historic landmarks. She’s been known to hug a tree and a building or two.