Practice of prohibiting people or entities
Blacklisting
is the action of a group or authority compiling a
blacklist
of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the
list
; if people are on a blacklist, then they are considered to have done something wrong, or they are considered to be untrustworthy. As a
verb
, blacklist can mean to put an individual or entity on such a list.
[1]
A blacklist is synonymous with a list of banned persons or organisations, and is the opposite of a
whitelist
.
Origins of the term
[
edit
]
The English dramatist
Philip Massinger
used the phrase "black list" in his 1639 tragedy
The Unnatural Combat
.
[2]
After the
restoration of the English monarchy
brought
Charles II of England
to the throne in 1660, a
list of regicides
named those to be punished for the
execution of his father
.
[3]
The state papers of Charles II say "If any innocent soul be found in this black list, let him not be offended at me, but consider whether some mistaken principle or interest may not have misled him to vote".
[4]
In a 1676 history of the events leading up to the Restoration,
James Heath
(a supporter of Charles II) alleged that
Parliament
had passed an Act requiring the sale of estates, "And into this black list the
Earl of Derby
was now put, and other unfortunate
Royalists
".
[5]
Edward Gibbon
wrote in
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
(1776) of
Andronicus
that "His memory was stored with a black list of the enemies and rivals, who had traduced his merit, opposed his greatness, or insulted his misfortunes".
[6]
History
[
edit
]
Employment
[
edit
]
The first published reference to
blacklisting of an employee
dates from 1774. This became a significant employment issue in American
mining towns
and
company towns
, where blacklisting could mean a complete loss of livelihood for workers who went on strike.
[7]
The 1901 Report of the
Industrial Commission
stated "There was no doubt in the minds of workingmen of the existence of the blacklisting system, though it was practically impossible to obtain evidence of it." It cited a news report that in 1895 a former
conductor
on the
Atlantic and Pacific Railroad
committed suicide, having been out of work ever since a strike: "Wherever he went, the blacklist was ahead of him".
[8]
Though the
National Labor Relations Act
of 1935 outlawed punitive blacklists against employees who supported
trade unions
or criticised their employers, the practice continued in common use. The
Taft-Hartley Act
of 1947 made amendments which sustained blacklisting by affirming the right of employers to be
anti-union
, and by requiring
trade union
leaders to make
loyalty oaths
which had the same effect as the
Hollywood blacklist
. Since then, lawsuits for
unfair dismissal
have led to blacklisting being covert or informal, but it remains common.
[7]
Hollywood blacklist
[
edit
]
The
Hollywood blacklist
was instituted by the
House Un-American Activities Committee
in 1947 to block
screenwriters
and other Hollywood professionals who were purported to have
Communist
sympathies from obtaining employment. It started by listing 151 entertainment industry professionals and lasted until 1960 when it was effectively broken by the acknowledgement that blacklisted professionals had been working under assumed names for many years.
[9]
[10]
Spanish Civil War and communists blacklisted
[
edit
]
At least one volunteer (
George Drever
) in the
International Brigades
who went to
Spain
to fight
Franco
's fascists and who was also well known in the
British Communist Party
in the 1930s was informed by the police
Special Branch
that his failure to progress in military or career was due to his volunteering in this cause and his beliefs.
[11]
World Wars I and II
[
edit
]
During
World War I
, the British government adopted a "blacklist" based on an
Order in Council
of 23 December 1915, prohibiting British subjects from trade with specified firms and individuals in neutral countries; the lists were published in the
London Gazette
.
[12]
In the summer of 1940, the
SS
printed a secret list
[
of what?
]
called
Sonderfahndungsliste G.B.
("Special Search List
Great Britain
") as part of
Nazi Germany
's preparations for invasion code-named
Operation Sea Lion
? when this booklet was found after the war, it was commonly called the
Black Book
and described as a blacklist.
[13]
Medical context
[
edit
]
In 1907, the Transvaal Medical Union in South Africa blacklisted patients if they could not pay cash in advance.
[14]
There was a physical list kept by the community of
physicians
.
2004 Venezuelan recall referendum
[
edit
]
After the
2004 Venezuelan recall referendum
, ruling party deputy
Luis Tascon
published on his website a database of more than 2,400,000 Venezuelans who had signed the petition to recall President
Hugo Chavez
, together with their national identity card numbers (
cedula
).
[15]
[16]
The list "made "
sectarianism
official", and Venezuelans who signed against Chavez were denied jobs, benefits, and documents, and often subjected to harassment.
[17]
Once the list was posted, Chavez, on a
Venezolana de Television
broadcast, encouraged use of the website to "verify illicit use of national identity cards". Roger Capella, Minister of Health declared that "those who signed against President Chavez would be fired because they are committing an act of terrorism".
[18]
There was a public outcry, in particular by the organization
Sumate
, and because of reports that people who worked for the government were fired, denied work, or denied issuance of official documents because of their appearance on the list.
[19]
[20]
In July 2004, access to the database under management of
Comando Maisanta
was granted to members of the "Batallones Bolivarianos de Internet (BBI)" (Internet Bolivarian Battalions), which previously had to register on Tascon's website to gain access under the strict requisite that they had not signed the petition for the referendum.
[21]
Computing
[
edit
]
In computing, a blacklist is an
access control
system that denies entry to a specific list (or a defined range) of users, programs, or network addresses.
Terminology concerns
[
edit
]
In 2018, a medical journal commentary regarding
predatory publishing
[22]
was published, arguing that
whitelist
,
blacklist
, among other terms, reinforce existing racial biases and should be avoided in medical literature. The commentary gained public attention in Summer 2020 following the
George Floyd protests
in the United States
[23]
wherein a black man died in the custody of Minneapolis police officers, sparking protests against police brutality.
The commentary cites examples of the use of
black
as a shorthand for disreputable sources and other negative judgements, and
white
for trustworthiness and safety. The article also notes the origins of
blacklist
as a label for censure and punishment of workers involved in labor unions, and that early use of the term coincides with the rise of
slavery in the Americas
, but does not claim its etymology as referring directly to skin color. However, the authors criticize the continued use of
blacklist
and similar language as inappropriate and harmful due to the ubiquity of
white
and
black
as descriptors of racial groups in common parlance, arguing that this association results in use of this type of language perpetuates racism, regardless of its linguistic origin.
[22]
Conflict around this issue often emerges in computing industries where
whitelist
and
blacklist
are prevalent (e.g. "IP whitelisting"
[24]
). Some companies,
open-source
communities, and software developers have chosen to deprecate use of
whitelist
and
blacklist
in favor of names which describe the purpose of those lists less ambiguously and are unlikely to come across to a reader as insensitive such as
allow list
and
deny list
. An
IETF
draft technical proposal
[25]
has been underway since 2018 presenting arguments for avoiding potentially exclusionary language in technical documentation and a standardized set of recommendations for their replacement. Before garnering wider public attention in 2020, similarly motivated changes have also been enacted in years prior to replace terminology such as
master/slave
with alternatives due to concerns over their potential role in workplace discrimination.
[26]
Some critics of these terminology changes
[
who?
]
question the interpretation of the deprecated language as racial in nature due to the linguistic root of
blacklist
as being most likely derived from the term
black book
,
[26]
[27]
which originated in the 1400s as a reference to "a list of people who had committed crimes or fallen out of favor with leaders," popularized by King Henry VIII's literal use of a black book.
[28]
Others note the prevalence of positive and negative connotations to
white
and
black
in some
Bible translations into English
, taking the position that this historical usage invalidates the claim of racial connotations in modern usage
[29]
because it predates the emergence of "Black" as a widespread word to refer to one's race as a
person of color
in America during the 1960s
Black power movement
.
[30]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Blacklist definition and meaning"
.
Collins English Dictionary
. 7 March 2017
. Retrieved
7 March
2017
.
- ^
Peter Chadlington (2005).
The Real McCoy: Understanding Peculiar English
. Icon. p. 43.
ISBN
978-1-84046-684-3
.
Philip Massinger (1761).
Dramatic Works: A new way to pay old debts. The great Duke of Florence. The unnatural combat. The bashful lover
. T. Davies. p.
194
.
Might write me down in the black List of those That have nor Fire, nor Spirit of their own
- ^
Paul McFedries (August 5, 2008).
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Weird Word Origins
. DK Publishing. p. 14.
ISBN
978-1-101-21718-4
.
- ^
Great Britain. Public Record Office (1968).
Calendar of state papers, domestic series, of the reign of Charles II: preserved in the state paper department of Her Majesty's Public Record Office
. Longman, Green, Longman & Roberts.
- ^
James Heath; John Phillips (1676).
A Chronicle of the Late Intestine War in the Three Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland: With the Intervening Affairs of Treaties, and Other Occurrences Relating Thereunto. As Also the Several Usurpations, Forreign Wars, Differences and Interests Depending Upon It, to the Happy Restitution of Our Sacred Soveraign K. Charles II. In Four Parts, Viz. The Commons War, Democracie, Protectorate, Restitution
. J. C.
- ^
Gibbon, Edward; Milman, Henry Hart (2008-06-07). Widger, David (ed.).
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman EmpireTable of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes)
. Vol. VIII.
- ^
a
b
Robert E. Weir (2013).
Workers in America: A Historical Encyclopedia
. ABC-CLIO. pp. 71?72.
ISBN
978-1-59884-718-5
.
- ^
United States Industrial Commission; Balthasar Henry Meyer; Roswell Cheney McCrea (1901).
Report of the Industrial Commission on Transportation, including testimony, review and topical digest of evidence, and special reports on railway legislation
. U.S. Government Printing Office.
- ^
Wilkerson, William
(1946-07-29). "A Vote For Joe Stalin".
The Hollywood Reporter
. p. 1.
- ^
Baum, Gary; Daniel Miller (November 19, 2012).
"Blacklist: THR Addresses Role After 65 Years"
.
Hollywood Reporter
. Retrieved
20 November
2012
.
- ^
Gray, Daniel (2013).
Homage to Caledonia: Scotland and the Spanish Civil War
([International version] ed.). New York: Luath Press Ltd. pp.68, 267.
- ^
The Encyclopedia Americana (1920), Blacklist
- ^
Philip Gooden; Peter Lewis (September 25, 2014).
The Word at War: World War Two in 100 Phrases
. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 22.
ISBN
978-1-4729-0490-4
.
- ^
Deacon, Harriet; Phillips, Howard; van Heyningen, Elizabeth, eds. (2004).
The Cape Doctor in the Nineteenth Century: A Social History (Clio Medica, 74)
. Editions Rodipi B.V.
ISBN
9042010649
.
- ^
"Tascon: Comenzo fotocopiado de planillas de la oposicion"
,
El Universal
, 2004
- ^
El Universal
, 21 April 2005,
Tascon: Alto jefe de Sumate vendio la lista por miles de dolares
- ^
Carroll, Rory (2013).
Comandante : myth and reality in Hugo Chavez's Venezuela
. Penguin Press: New York. pp.
100?104
.
ISBN
9781594204579
.
- ^
El Universal
, 21 March 2004,
(in Spanish)
"Firmar contra Chavez es un acto de terrorismo"
- ^
Chavez's Blacklist of Venezuelan Opposition Intimidates Voters
- ^
Malinarich, Nathalie (27 November 2006).
"Venezuela: A nation divided"
.
BBC News
. Retrieved
10 January
2010
.
- ^
Morales Flores, Miyeilis (2004),
"Diputado Tascon inicio registro de Batallones Bolivarianos por Internet"
,
Gobierno Bolivariano de Venezuela-Radio Nacional de Venezuela
, archived from
the original
on 30 September 2007
- ^
a
b
Houghton, F., & Houghton, S. (2018).
"“Blacklists” and “whitelists”: a salutary warning concerning the prevalence of racist language in discussions of predatory publishing."
- ^
Taylor, Derrick Bryson (2020-07-10).
"George Floyd Protests: A Timeline"
.
The New York Times
.
ISSN
0362-4331
. Retrieved
2020-10-14
.
- ^
"IP Whitelisting - Documentation"
.
help.gooddata.com
. Archived from
the original
on 2020-09-30
. Retrieved
2020-10-14
.
- ^
Knodel, Mallory.
"Terminology, Power, and Inclusive Language in Internet-Drafts and RFCs"
.
Ietf Datatracker
. Internet Engineering Task Force
. Retrieved
17 November
2022
.
- ^
a
b
Cimpanu, Catalin.
"GitHub to replace "master" with alternative term to avoid slavery references"
.
ZDNet
. Retrieved
2020-10-14
.
- ^
"blacklist | Origin and meaning of blacklist by Online Etymology Dictionary"
.
etymonline.com
. Retrieved
2020-10-14
.
- ^
"What is Little Black Book?"
.
Writing Explained
. Retrieved
2020-10-17
.
- ^
Grammarian, Angry (22 July 2020).
"Is 'master bedroom' a racist term? As language evolves, consider history and usage. | The Angry Grammarian"
.
inquirer.com
. Retrieved
2020-10-14
.
- ^
Martin, Ben L. (1991).
"From Negro to Black to African American: The Power of Names and Naming"
.
Political Science Quarterly
.
106
(1): 83?107.
doi
:
10.2307/2152175
.
ISSN
0032-3195
.
JSTOR
2152175
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
Look up
blacklist
in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
- Lorence, James J. (1999).
The Suppression of Salt of the Earth: How Hollywood, Big Labor, and Politicians Blacklisted a Movie in Cold War America
. University of New Mexico Press.
ISBN
0-8263-2027-9
.