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I talked to @eveewing about this but I disagree with this ethos wholesale. Capitalizing the "w" is only a performative act for white people. The rest of us are already aware that whiteness is *not* invisible. https://twitter.com/zoramag/status/1289878905114046475
Not capitalizing the "w" in white is a systemic disruption which decenters whiteness with respect to other groups. That should be the purpose of capitalization.
Perhaps journalistic outlets are confronting this for the first time and they are contending with understanding whiteness as absence VS. overtly violent social contruction. But, most journalistic outlets are also white-owned, white run, and white facing.
Essentially, when I choose not to capitalize the "w" in white, I'm saying the work I'm presenting is not about white people. While they can and should read it, they should also sit in the discomfort of sitting at someone else's table on a folding chair they brought with them.
Not capitalizing the "w" in white is decolonizing work.
We don't need anymore mechanisms to make whiteness more visible.
I don't write for or about white people. I write for and about Black folx. I am a scholar of Blackness.
When we capitalize the "w" in white, we distract from that work. I won't do it.
When we capitalize the "w" in white, we distract from that work. I won't do it.
I think this is a valid concern. However, whiteness is constructed to do that work on its own. Whiteness sets itself as the norm. Thus capitalizing, to me, esp when done alongside capitalizing oppressed groups, normalizes because it implies sameness. https://twitter.com/FeministBorgia/status/1289893128602705920?s=19
I mean, the fact that white people are unfollowing me because of this post proves my point, right?
Whiteness is about comfort, normalcy, and default-ness. Not capitalizing removes that and forces introspection.
Whiteness is about comfort, normalcy, and default-ness. Not capitalizing removes that and forces introspection.
Exactly this. This dissonance stems from intention. We have to intentionally decenter whiteness in all things if we are ever going to build a sustainable, free and liberated world for all of us. https://twitter.com/IBJIYONGI/status/1289898137612509184?s=19
Yes, this is all in line with the "objectivity in journalism" argument. But, it doesn't take stock of history or praxis. Folx of color are written out of the archive in all manner of overt and implicit/subtle ways. https://twitter.com/Linguacene/status/1289901714934362112?s=19
I also capitalize the "B" in Brown. https://twitter.com/tage_rai/status/1289904101405253635?s=19
