It's a really interesting story, actually! The question of whether and when to capitalize has been an active one since at least the early 20th century. Here's a (very) recent Columbia Journalism Review article that discusses it from a stylistic perspective:
And I also thought that this article, about the Brookings Institution's decision to capitalize Black in their reports, had some interesting historical context:
Capitalizing White seems extremely weird, though, and somehow emblematic of how we're sliding backwards into a racialized consciousness even while trying (and hopefully succeeding) to step forwards toward equality.
This. The words "white" and "black" are not proper names of places, and they aren't honorifics. To say I'm "White" would be like saying I'm "Fat" or "Tired".
I'm not sure that argument works grammatically because we capitalize things that aren't names of places, but I agree with you in the sense that it's the feeling I got while reading the article, and it was strangely creepy.
https://www.cjr.org/analysis/capital-b-black-styleguide.php
And I also thought that this article, about the Brookings Institution's decision to capitalize Black in their reports, had some interesting historical context:
https://www.brookings.edu/research/brookingscapitalizesblack...