Comment by kelnos

> always writing "black" (as in African-American) with a capital B

Not really agreeing or disagreeing with your overall point, but I'm fine with this practice. I used to think it was weird, but I've come to realize some things:

1. "Black" is not acting as a descriptor of color. Black people do not have black skin. Black people with even the darkest of skin in the spectrum of "Black person" still do not have black skin. So the word is being used in a very different way than its common meaning.

2. "Black person" has become a proper noun of sorts, in parallel to "Asian person", etc. I also see most (all?) publications that capitalize "Black" to also capitalize "White" when talking about race, which seems reasonable through this lens.