General Discussion

I can sort of remember the seeming change from use of African American (always and always capitalized because it represents a people-- a distinct racial group of Americans, just as one would capitalize any other group) to the accepted alternative, Black or Black people-- then black is no longer just a skin color. Granted, African Americans are not the only black people in this country, so there is an argument to made either way. I would presume AP's editors have spent considerable time consulting with focus groups and representatives at the community, academic, political levels. Arguably, capitalizing "WHITE" doesn't make a lot of sense since it is no more than a perceived grouping of skin color and a mishmash of races and ethnicities.

At any rate, I guess time will tell how this shakes out. I've long depended on the AP style guidelines for writing within my own profession so I'd love to see this settled one way or another.