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Capitalizing "Black" vs. not capitalizing "white"

This is from J.A. on electoral-vote.com.

White culture is not a thing that exists. This isn't to say white people do not have culture; of course they do. But their culture is rooted in places they can track, and nations that have long-documented histories. So instead of white culture, we have French, or German, or Italian, or Russian culture.

Unfortunately, due to the past colonial and imperialist misdeeds by some forerunners from those European nations, we have lost the opportunity for these contemporaneous African cultures to be referred to by their proper names. The cultures that the Black Americans may have called theirs originally were annihilated when they were kidnapped and sold into slavery. Further, many of the nations we see in Africa now are not nations that existed before colonization. The current nations are colonial legacy nations, thrown together in a hodgepodge of individual cultures with no regard to historical animus or alliance, meaning even if enslaved descendants were able to trace where they came from, the "nation" that stands there is likely not representative of whatever culture from which their ancestor originated. So these people were forced to create an entirely new culture during, and after, slavery. That is now Black culture, and while it may have some roots in traditional African cultures, it was created and developed wholly in the New World as a result of the treatment they faced here.
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helenS · 36-40, F
It would be interesting to know whether slavery existed in Africa before European colonists and imperialists took over. Did Africans enslave Africans?
I know that there was slavery in Islamic Africa, 1400-1800.
Here's a summary, and it's a competent source:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-world-history-of-slavery/slavery-in-islamic-africa-14001800/F1FBBD944B3B0FB4A2CEED3434ECB213
@helenS You mean legally? Yes, at least some whites did. And white people enslaving other white people ended legally a few centuries ago.

Although, the post isn't about slavery per se, but about the shared identity of Black Americans as a distinct group.
Mugin16 · 46-50, M
@helenS Not probably but certainly.

The Islamic slave trade and slavery stopped much later. Saudi Arabia abolished slavery in 1960. Oman in 1962. In Mauretania slavery still exists not legally but de facto.
helenS · 36-40, F
@LeopoldBloom As a European I cannot comment on a perceived identity of Black Americans. The few Black Americans I met, when I was in the USA, were scientist at an institute, good ones and poor ones, and I never felt they had developed a "black" identity. Or maybe they simply did not tell.
revenant · F
Tutsis and Hutus ?
@revenant I'm sure it's interesting for someone to learn that they have ancestors from Nigeria, but their identity is going to be Black American. Black is a unique group within the U.S. with its own culture and traditions. So "Black" is capitalized the way "Irish" or "Polish" or "Latino" is.
revenant · F
@LeopoldBloom what or who is stopping them ?
@revenant Nobody is stopping them. I just gave a 23&Me membership to one of my friends. She found out that she is around 90% Nigerian. But since her family has been in this country for at least 200 to 300 years, she thinks of herself as a Black American.

She also confirmed that she is part Cherokee. She knows who the ancestor is. I suggested that she find out if the person was an enrolled tribal member, as she would be able to enroll herself based on that. Her response was that she had absolutely no interest in that as she felt no connection to the Cherokee people.
Interesting thinking, thanks for posting.
@Cinnaman Electoral-vote recently started posting readers' letters on Sundays, and some of them are quite good.
I’m sensing you’re a bit of a closet racist..
it’s all you talk about and magically it’s always everyone but you 🤔
@TheOneyouwerewarnedabout Sensitive much? When did I say I'm excluded? Unlike you, I don't deny my white privilege. I'm very aware of it.

You're one of those racist shitbags who views equality as a personal threat. Loss of your special privilege feels like oppression.

 
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