The word Multiracial means relating to people of several or many races. Sometimes it is capitalized and sometimes it is not, depending on who you ask. Project RACE is now asking that like other race(s), it always be capitalized, just like Black, Latino, Asian, and Native American. Multiracial people are no less important. This change needs to be made in dictionaries, when used by the media, in private conversation, on racial and ethnic surveys, etc. Seeing Multiracial is becoming more frequent. It’s about time.

I remember when the Associated Press changed its writing style guide to capitalize the “b” in the term Black when referring to people in a racial, ethnic, or cultural context, which had become a hotly debated issue. John Daniszewski, AP’s vice president of standards said, “The lowercase black is a color, not a person. Multiracial is the entirety of a person, not separate colors, as well.

The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and NBC News embraced the capitalization of Black and urged other news organizations to follow. We have noticed that the AP has made some transition of Multiracial from mixed to multiracial, which is also necessary. Multiracial with a capital “M” is a respected and proper term and you can help by pointing it out whenever you see it with a lower case “m” or hyphenated.