In June, one of the most popular media outlets in the world, The New York Times, officially announced that they would now capitalize the word "Black" when used to refer to blacks.
The decision caused a lot of controversy. Some online publications instantly supported the trend. A week later, similar changes in editorial policy were adopted by the CJR , Los Angeles Times , The Seattle Times , Metro Times , The Washington Post and several dozen major American and international English-language publications.
Some publications believe that if you take such steps, then you need to write both words in capital letters: "Black" and "White". Medium, for example, unambiguously expressedtheir concern about the trend promoted by the media, stressing that such steps will not solve the problem of racism. Interestingly, the NABJ (National Association of Black Journalists) also stated that "Black", "White" and other racial media identifiers should be capitalized.
Social movements against racism are truly changing the English language. In this article we will figure out what exactly is changing and how to say “right” now. Go.
Historical excursion over 150 years: how attitudes towards blacks were reflected in English
Race vocabulary has changed many times over the past 150 years.
The first major changes in attitudes towards blacks occurred after the end of the American Civil War. The Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution freed slaves on the territory of the state and made them formally equal with whites.
But in fact, blacks remained "second-class people." In the 1850s, the most common term was “colored”. But very soon the word "Negro" became common in the media and books.
: « «Negro» , [ «black» «colored»]. [Negro art] [Negro music], «». , ».
In fact, the word "Negro" only emphasized segregation towards blacks. And insults «Nigger» and «Niggah» and are now considered the most powerful racial insults.
"Negro" remained the main word for blacks until the 1950s. At the same time, movements against the segregation of the black population became active, which actively continued in the United States for several decades.
Then, instead of the offensive "Negro", the word "Black" was used. And although it also had negative aspects, but for 30 years it has practically supplanted other designations. The media of the 1990s used it in 91.5% of cases when they wrote about representatives of the Negroid race.
In 1988, Ramona Edeline, a well-known black rights activist, in a meeting with black leaders of the organizations proposed to replace the term "Black" with the more neutral "African American". This was picked up by the media, and by 1991, "black" was practically out of use as a "racial" word.
In 1991, 98.4% of racial media coverage reported "African American" or "Afro-American."
All statistics are taken from "Changing racial labels" by Tom W Smith.
But in the past 10 years, more and more blacks have started to say that the term "African American" is controversial. After all, almost all black Americans have lived in the United States for many generations and have no family ties in Africa. New euphemisms like “person of color” have not caught on. In fact, today only two terms are used equally: "black" and "African American". They are both considered politically correct. Will the initiative of the modern media, which call for writing "Black" with a capital letter, take root? It is quite possible, because it was at the suggestion of the media that the phrase “African American” began to be used, which did not exist at all until 1988. But it's worth noting that many Americans don't like these "concept changes." 80% of US citizens believe
political correctness is a problem that does not solve social issues of society, but only calls them differently.
Common words and phrases deemed racist
Modern social movements against racism concern not only words that identify racial identity, but also quite common phrases in the English language, the etymology of which has been forgotten.
We have collected several similar examples of previously common words and expressions, the origin of which, unexpectedly for many, turned out to be racist:
Master bedroom
Until recently, in the real estate industry, this was the name for a bedroom with a separate bathroom. Or simply the largest bedroom in the house - this value was popular after the Second World War.
But initially the phrase meant precisely "the master's bedroom" where the owners of the plantation lived. Indeed, one of the meanings of the word "master" is precisely "master", including slaves. And most of them turned to the slave owner as “Master”.
Today, American real estate companies are officially getting rid of this term, replacing it with a neutral "primary bedroom".
Master-Slave
The model of interaction "master-slave" in information systems and computer technologies was previously denoted by a pair of words "master / slave". "Master" and "slave" literally translated.
Beginning in 2003, IT companies began to gradually get rid of master / slave.
- In 2014, Django and Drupal replaced "master / slave" in their docs with "primary / replica".
- In 2018, Python, after much debate, replaced "master" with "main", "parent" and "server", "slave" with "worker", "child" and "helper", depending on the context.
- In 2020, MySQL announced that it would use "source / replica" instead of "master / slave".
Similar changes also affected the words "blacklist" and "whitelist", which for the most part turned into "blocklist" and "allowlist", respectively.
Peanut gallery
"Peanut gallery" is a "gallery", the worst and cheapest seats in the theater. From this term came the phraseological unit “No comments from the peanut gallery”, which means that someone is too rude or does not understand the topic of the conversation - that is, incompetent.
In the 19th century, the phrase "peanut gallery" meant sectors in the theater where black people were allowed to sit. The same gallery. And in the pop culture of the 20th century, this phrase began to mean a person's ignorance and lack of culture.
If we compare these meanings, then the phrase turns out to be rather racist. That is why he is gradually "forgotten".
Cakewalk
Colloquially, "cakewalk" means "something that is easy to do or achieve." A kind of "a piece of cake".
Previously, this word was called a simple dance that black slaves danced on plantations. The shackles allowed a fairly limited set of movements, so it was as simple as possible.
Why "cakewalk". Sometimes the planters organized "competitions" among the slaves for the best dance performance. One of these "competitions" was covered by the media. The prize was a piece of pie - and the word "cakewalk", which was named this dance, stuck.
Today, the word "cakewalk" is actively eradicated from the American lexicon with all its meanings.
Uppity
This word means "arrogant", "arrogant", "impudent".
The word “uppity” was used by white Americans in the first half of the 20th century for blacks who, in their opinion, did not show them the respect they deserve and claimed benefits that were unique to whites.
"Uppity" is an insult directly linked to race. Already in the 2000s, it was considered extremely uncivilized, but it was used. For example, those who disagree with the policy of Barack Obama to offend him and his wife .
Now it by gravity insults virtually equated to «Nigger» word.
Black mark
In our society, the black mark is associated with pirates. Almost everyone has watched the Jack Sparrow movies or read Stevenson's Treasure Island.
In English, "get a black mark" means "to do something that turned the people around you against you."
And although the phrase is not associated with slavery or racial segregation, "black" here plays a clearly negative role, so now they are trying not to use it. In general, the word "black" in a negative context should not be used now. Even if the phrase, in principle, cannot be associated with racial segregation.
***
Social movements against racism are changing the English language quite clearly. The meanings of words are transformed, some phrases become indecent or even offensive.
And in these changes you need to navigate so as not to get into a mess. Otherwise, one seemingly common phrase can hang you as a racist. And the excuse "didn't know" will not help.
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