In the crazed summer of 2020, with one exception, the American prestige press switched their copy guidebooks as one multiheaded beast from referring to “blacks and whites” to referring to “Blacks and whites” to show which race deserved “reverential capitalization” and which did not.

The only media institution to chart its own path was the Washington Post, which switched from “blacks and whites” to the more even-handed “Blacks and Whites.” In general, I dislike these kinds of ticky-tack changes (e.g., Bombay to Mumbai) designed to trip up old folks (like me), but I appreciate that the Post was the only national media organization that felt bad about the overt anti-white racism of the new norm of “Blacks and whites” and bucked the fad.

I’ve never seen an explanation of who had the authority and strength of character within the Post to resist the tide during the ill-fated “racial reckoning,” so I’ve theorized that maybe it went all the way to the top: Perhaps owner Jeff Bezos demurred, “You know, guys, I don’t interfere with editorial operations all that much, but ‘Blacks and whites’ just looks silly. Isn’t there something else you could do?”

But a reader on Twitter (@Wincelebrater) suggested it was due to Jesse Lewis, the Washington Post’s no nonsense– looking chief copy editor:

Judging by the expression on Mr. Lewis’s face, I wouldn’t be surprised if this theory were true.