Racism Survey Response Thread

[Chandra]

I didn't want to derail this thread by discussing people's responses in it, so I decided to make a new one.

Specifically, I wanted to talk about the responses to these three questions:

3. If A only hires race "purple" because A's customers prefer the race "purple", do you think A is racist?

3a. Suppose A is in the entertainment industry, where sex appeal sells, and A determined that a majority of the customers are physically attracted to race "purple", would A be racist for hiring only race "purple"?

3b. Suppose A is in an accounting industry, however, A's customers have formed bad stereotypes against any other race, and prefers race "purple", would A be racist for only hiring race "purple"?

I was surprised to find that the majority of people seem to think that no, these actions do not equate with racism, that it's merely profit-driven or that (in the case of 3a) "purple" is inherently sexier. Personally, I find these responses troublesome.

In my opinion, whether "A" shares their customers' prejudices is immaterial. I would argue, in fact, that A's actions are even more insidious than the customers' opinions. Why? Because what A is doing is reinforcing bad stereotypes by playing into people's fears. Imagine for a moment that we are talking about a company with a policy not to hire transpeople, because the public's opinion of them is low. Customers notice this, or even learn about this policy, and it helps them to justify their low opinion (ex. "Why should I accept them, when they're so bad they can't even be hired by this reputable company?"). This employer's discriminatory hiring practices has helped to worsen the situation for transpeople.

In the case of 3a, the problem here is that what is considered "sexy" and what is not is very much influenced by what the media presents as sexy. If race "purple" is viewed as more attractive, it's largely because race "purple" has been given the most attractive roles and been photographed or filmed in the most attractive way, not because one race of people is inherently more attractive than another. Again, the personal opinions of A don't matter here; A is reinforcing public prejudice rather than helping to change it.

The dictionary definition of racism includes discrimination, not merely personal prejudice, and for good reason.

Does anyone else have thoughts on this?

Legally one can't discriminate against race, gender, orientation, or age in most hiring processes. I personally think it's a separate issue though. There's a difference between moral "rightness" and racism. A's actions are not necessarily right but I don't think they're racist either.

[Lady Macbeth]

Capitalism, mate. *shrugs*
And I'll have to agree with boundbysymmetry here.

[SRSLYMARK]

Chandra, I'm with you on this one. It's completely possible to be an implicit contributor to racism. It doesn't always have to do with just personal prejudice or hate.

[Chandra]

Originally Posted by boundbysymmetry

There's a difference between moral "rightness" and racism.

Could you elaborate on this further, please?