Delta Air Lines is being chastised across social media, from Facebook to Twitter, for a document purporting to instruct that black and brown should be capitalized while white should be lowercase.
Their DEI department has ordered that “black” and “brown” be capitalized, while “white” people should be referred to in lowercase. The exact note from Delta is as follows:
RACE AND ETHNICITY STYLE NOTE
Capitalize “Black” and “Brown” in Delta communications. Unlike Black or Brown, “white” should be lowercase. When referencing race, ethniçity, or nationality, be as specific as possible.
Journalist Brian Krassenstein said, Yes, this Delta Airlines note about race appears to be genuine, and it’s not the only one. Things like this only serve to exacerbate race relations in America. The Associated Press did something similar in 2020 with this reasoning:
“We agree that white people’s skin color plays into systemic inequalities and injustices, and we want our journalism to robustly explore these problems,” John Daniszewski, the AP’s vice president for standards, said. “But capitalizing the term white, as is done by white supremacists, risks subtly conveying legitimacy to such beliefs.”
At the time, the National Association of Black Journalists and some black scholars agreed that white should also be capitalized.
Delta’s Inclusive Language Guide follows AP Style to reflect newsroom and editorial standards across the country. It is also intended to encourage more consistent, inclusive practices throughout the organization.
Delta has not responded to any of the thousands of comments online.