Hi Olog-hai,
I have noticed the capitalization of black in many different publications/postings. It has made me go back 60 years to when I first learned the rules of capitalization. You know, capitals should be used for the first word of a sentence, proper nouns or names, first word of a quote, days, months, and holidays (but not seasons), most words in titles (but not articles, conjunctions or prepositions), cities, countries, nationalities, and languages, specific time periods and events.
The current “habit” of capitalizing the word black is wholly inappropriate unless it falls into one of the permitted uses.
The constant violation of the simple rules of grammar cause me to question the intelligence of the writer/publisher. But, then again, maybe it is as you write - it is a “ ... statement of hatred against whites.”
Gwjack
Associated Press changed its rules a couple of weeks ago, said Black should be capitalized but white used lowercase. Most news orgs follow AP, hence the new change.
Before the Associated Press changed their “style” format, the only places I saw “black” capitalized were in publications that could be described as “black supremacist”. You’re certainly right that the only legitimate capitalization is of proper nouns or at the beginning of a sentence; and of course no other adjective in this strange new epoch gets capitalized, certainly not “white”.