I was having a difficult time thinking of something to write about this week, so I went to The Poynter Institute website. I flipped through some of the recent articles they are featuring. I found one that is pretty relevant. The title of it is "Is It Right to Say the Suspect is Black? Or Latino? Or White?". The title is pretty self-explanatory.

It's a pretty interesting thing to ponder. Steve Parker from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch is the writer, and he cites the words of Keith Woods of the Pointer-Institute. Woods hosted a seminar where he presented his position that journalists should NOT use the words "black", "Latino", or "white" to describe a suspect.

I think he is right when he says that "black", "Latino", and "white" are one-dimensional words to describe groups of people that come in many different skin tones, facial structures, hair texture etc. I think he's right when he says that it is better to find other outstanding characteristics to identify a suspect, if they are available. People should try to be more creative and descriptive in trying to identify suspects than using old terms that can be stereotypical.