Talk:Attack on Reginald Denny

Capitalization of 'white' and 'black'

Racial categories are capitalized throughout this article, a very recent change in line with the updated styles used by a number of news outlets. Capitalization of 'Black' and especially 'White' (the latter used only by the Washington Post among major American news outlets, as far as I am aware) is a highly contentious issue, and the trend to capitalization is politically charged. It is strongly associated with the American left, and the terms 'white' and 'black' were not capitalized by any major news outlets until just months ago. Capitalization of these terms is inconsistent in the 1992 LA riots article. It doesn't seem sensible to me to retroactively capitalize these words on old articles about older topics, but I don't want to revert this change here or elsewhere without input from others. Contemporaneous usage of these words at the time of the LA riots was for them to not be capitalized, and since the terms (unlike older terms for black Americans) are not considered offensive, I would consider capitalization in this case to be misleading and arguably constitute a revisionist history of the events. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Blocky1OOO (talk • contribs) 19:39, 24 January 2021 (UTC)

Changing capitalization is not the same as revisionism where facts are changed. I can't help you in that this appears to be the new trend. Life changes. MartinezMD (talk) 21:32, 24 January 2021 (UTC)

Denny's age

Denny's age has been reported as 36 or 39, depending on the source (there are several for both). It looks like that is what is causing a minor edit war. Please adjust accordingly, unless we can find a definite source that can refute the other. MartinezMD (talk) 00:34, 8 May 2021 (UTC)

Suggested re-work of lead

I'd like to suggest a modified intro, that may help avoid the recurring edits that either add or remove the race(s) of those involved.

Current version:

Reginald Oliver Denny (born 1953) is a White former construction truck driver who was pulled from his truck and severely beaten during the 1992 Los Angeles riots by a group of Black men who came to be known as the "L.A. Four". The attack was captured on video by a news helicopter and broadcast live on U.S. national television.
Four other Black L.A. residents who had been witnessing the attack on live television came to Denny's aid, placing him back in his truck, in which one of the rescuers drove him to the hospital. Denny suffered a fractured skull and impairment of his speech and ability to walk, for which he underwent years of rehabilitative therapy. After unsuccessfully suing the City of Los Angeles, Denny moved to Arizona, where he worked as an independent boat mechanic and has mostly avoided media contact.

Proposed:

Reginald Oliver Denny (born 1953) is a former construction truck driver who was pulled from his truck and severely beaten during the 1992 Los Angeles riots by a group of men who came to be known as the "L.A. Four". The attack was captured on video by a news helicopter and broadcast live on U.S. national television.

Four L.A. residents who had been witnessing the attack on live television came to Denny's aid, placing him back in his truck, which one of the rescuers then drove to the hospital. Denny suffered a fractured skull and impairment of his speech and his ability to walk, for which he underwent years of rehabilitative therapy. After unsuccessfully suing the City of Los Angeles, Denny moved to Arizona, where he worked as an independent boat mechanic and has mostly avoided media contact.

Denny is White. His four attackers are Black, and the four who rescued him are also Black.

The rationale here is two pronged: To eliminate "White" as the first/primary characteristic ascribed to Denny, and at the same time, clarify and focus on the fact that he was both attacked by, and rescued by, African Americans.

(I made a couple of copyedits in the second graf which should be non-controversial) I make no claim that this is the best approach, I'm merely suggesting an option and requesting input. Cheers. Anastrophe (talk) 23:07, 5 July 2021 (UTC)

Having a stand-alone sentence to mention the race of the involved parties, without any other context, seems awkward and unnecessary. While reading the two versions, I didn't even notice the difference until that last sentence, which I think is a sign that the current wording works well. If we want to clarify the race issue, we could add some context for the 1992 Los Angeles riots, or simply say Denny is White, and his four attackers were Black as the second sentence. --Sangdeboeuf (talk) 23:30, 5 July 2021 (UTC)

No objection to modifying the sequence, but that last sentence is a bit awkward imho. Perhaps this?

Reginald Oliver Denny (born 1953) is a former construction truck driver who was pulled from his truck and severely beaten during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. His attackers, a group of Black men who came to be known as the "L.A. Four", targeted him because he was White. The attack was captured on video by a news helicopter and broadcast live on U.S. national television.
Four other Black L.A. residents who had been witnessing the attack on live television came to Denny's aid, placing him back in his truck, in which one of the rescuers drove him to the hospital. Denny suffered a fractured skull and impairment of his speech and ability to walk, for which he underwent years of rehabilitative therapy. After unsuccessfully suing the City of Los Angeles, Denny moved to Arizona, where he worked as an independent boat mechanic and has mostly avoided media contact.

MartinezMD (talk) 23:46, 5 July 2021 (UTC)

Thanks for the feedback. I like User MartinezMD's version better than my own. It provides context, loses the awkwardness of my added last sentence, and doesn't make Denny's race his primary characteristic - which in the original is out of context for a reader who has no prior knowledge if the incident. Anastrophe (talk) 23:51, 5 July 2021 (UTC)

Looks OK to me. --Sangdeboeuf (talk) 22:53, 6 July 2021 (UTC)

Deadnaming

Why are we deadnaming Zoey Tur exactly? What is the point of mentioning that someone (an extremely minor figure in this article no less) no longer wishes to go by a certain name (to the point of legally changing it) in this context? It doesn't seem relevant at all to me and is in fact offensive (at the least), especially to Zoey herself, so I was just curious. Bill Lumbergh (talk) 15:53, 17 November 2022 (UTC)

Do you have a reliable source that reports that Tur objects to it? The article for Zoey Tur also gives the former name. I'm unclear where the "transphobia" is in this. We go by reliable sources. Period. cheers. anastrophe, an editor he is. 22:38, 17 November 2022 (UTC)

MOS:GENDERID says, generally do not discuss in detail changes of a person's name or gender presentation unless pertinent ... In articles on works or other activity by a living trans or non-binary person before transition, use their current name as the primary name ... unless they prefer their former name be used. We should default to using Tur's current name unless we know they prefer otherwise for events before their transition. --Sangdeboeuf (talk) 02:44, 18 November 2022 (UTC)

Under the same section MOS:GENDERID, it says "If they were notable under the name by which they were credited for the work or other activity, provide it in a parenthetical or footnote on first reference" so, as an example, 1976 Summer Olympics says "Caitlyn Jenner[a] won the gold medal for decathlon," where "a" is the explanatory note that says simply "Then known as Bruce Jenner.". That would be the correct way to address this under current WP policy. MartinezMD (talk) 04:34, 18 November 2022 (UTC)

Reverted edits

To Gene Stanley1: you are making an allegation that the US has an established white supremacy. I, and I suspect most WP editors, will dismiss that on its face. That's why I reverted your edit. MartinezMD (talk) 01:04, 14 November 2023 (UTC)