It’s a sad state of affairs when a person of colour is forced to write his own racist slurs

Racist robots! ABC News online, July 24:

Have you ever wondered why you rarely see a brown or black robot? A couple of researchers … were having trouble finding any — why were all the robots white? … What they discovered was that humans carry their racial biases over to robots. “People changed their behaviour towards brown robots in comparison to white robots,” Professor (Cristoph) Bartneck said … “If you have a society that is as diverse as the society in Australia or New Zealand or even in the US, but all the robots are white — that would be quite weird, wouldn’t it?” he said. ‘‘There’s no particular reason why they all should be white.’’

Racist interviews! BBC News, July 24:

The subtle racism of job interviews. A groundbreaking virtual reality project lets viewers experience the bias and micro-aggressions that people of colour endure when looking for jobs.

Racist customers! The Washington Post, July 23:

The bill was $108.73. His tip: $0. Why $0? The customers apparently made sure to let Khalil Cavil know. They circled his name printed on the ­receipt and wrote … “We don’t tip terrorist”. Cavil is a half-black, half-white, 20-year-old waiter … Perhaps it was her son’s name, or his appearance, or both, that made those customers accuse Cavil of being a terrorist … (Cavil’s mother) said … “I don’t think I’d ever understand why anyone would do something like that.” Cavil, a waiter from Odessa, Texas, said the note … left him speechless and “sick to my stomach”. The next day he posted an image of the note on Facebook … “I share this because I want people to understand that this racism, and this hatred still exists … Some supporters have since found ways to send Cavil money to make up for the tip he didn’t receive. In a follow-up Facebook post … Cavil thanked those who have sent him money.

Er, fake racism. Chris Bell, BBC News, July 24:

A US waiter, Khalil Cavil, is no longer working at a Texas restaurant after his employers said he faked a widely shared image of a receipt scrawled with a racist note … A customer was initially banned from the restaurant in response to the claims … chief operating officer Terry Turney said … “Racism of any form is intolerable … Falsely accusing someone of racism is equally disturbing.”

Racist curriculum! Jonathan Petre, The Mail on Sunday, July 14:

Academics … have been urged to avoid saying ‘‘as you know’’ in lectures … The advice was given at a meeting of Bath University’s equality and diversity network … Berenice Dalrymple, co-chair of the university’s student union race equality group, told the meeting: ‘‘Some lecturers used commonly known references stating ‘as you know’, which could make students feel at fault for not knowing and make it difficult to engage with the course content.’’ Her comments … followed the screening of a video called Why is My Curriculum White? in which … a student complained that ‘‘saying ‘as you know’ leads to self-doubt and makes things difficult to question’’ … The … meeting had been focusing on the attainment gap between white and non-white students — who in some years were … ‘‘50 per cent less likely to attain a good degree’’ … Oxford University’s equality and diversity unit has advised that failing to make eye contact or speak directly to people could be deemed a ‘‘racial micro-aggression’’, and a warning (was issued) to English students … at Cambridge University that plays by William Shakespeare could contain upsetting gore and violence.