Should it be Black or black?

"It's all a bunch of crap. Americans are Americans are Americans. I am of Irish, Dutch, English and German heritagebut I am not called European-American, just American. Why can't we all just leave it at that. I you live in England, you are British. If you live in Germany, you are German. If you live in Africa, you are African. And if you live in America, you are American. ENOUGH ALREADY!"



That comment was from a poster named "Chief" who was commenting on a message board where i happened to be lurking. They were talking about capitalizing the b in black and the w in white. The question was; is it proper to do so?

Now i know that the PC set will always capitalize the B when they refer to us black folks. But please don't do us any favors, it's just a fucking letter in a word, it won't improve one public school or get one single illegal gun off the street.


This fine Afrospear blogger had a problem with the Houston Chronicle not capitalizing the b in black, and it prompted an interesting discussion. And note Francis Holland's comments in the comment section of that post: He is right of course, some white people lose their natural minds when the B in black is capitalized. As if black folks are going to somehow become empowered because there is a capital B in black. (See "Chief", that's why we can't just leave shit in A-merry-ca, because people get hung up over a capital fucking B)



But it's an interesting question, and i have gotten e-mails in the past about it. "Field why don't you capitalize the B when you write the word black when referring to black folks?" Ahhh because it's a color designation and not a reference to a race or nationality. Now to be honest, i am such a lazy ass writer, and i have such disregard for such things (just ask my grammar coach woozie) that there might have been a time or two where i might actually have capitalized the B in black, and i probably went on to write the b as lower case in the very next sentence. And if someone looks hard enough, i am sure they will find posts where I capitalized the W in white, and where i used the lower case w as well. My writing is just schizo like that.

If i am referring to an Asian, a Native American, a Caucasian, or a Negro, i will always capitalize, because that is an ethnic designation. But if i am referring to someones supposed color, well, as my man Borat says; "not so much". "But field what about the word colored?" Nope, i won't capitalize that either. That is still referring to a form of color designation, and besides, us black folks don't even like that word anymore. So "colored" will always have a lower case c when i use it. You will never see me capitalizing "colored". Never!

And a countries' first letter will always get capitalized, even if i spell it funny. So i will never start A-merry-ca with a lower case, because, well, it's a country, and A-merry-cans deserve more.

Oh well, maybe one of the smart people who comment here will tell me what is proper and what is not. i know one thing i am going back to capitalizing i. My ego can't take this lower case shit anymore. Yes, I like this a little better.