Can we please stop calling every act of pre-judgment, racism'? An 'ism' is: a distinctive practice, system, or philosophy, typically a political ideology or an artistic movement.
People, like this store manager, can be prejudiced - in fact we all are in some way - but they can't be racist. They can be instruments of racist institutions but it's the institution that is racist.
Apple - like all multinational companies - loves every colour as long as it's green - eg money. The manager who told these black kids to leave his store because he was "afraid they might steal something" is clearly an idiot, and ill-suited for the customer service industry but he's not a racist. It's a small point but an important one.
Of course Apple immediately issued a statement that said, "Inclusion and diversity are among Apple's core values. We believe in equality for everyone, regardless of race, age, gender, gender identity, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation... ya da, ya da, ya da.
Why? because the bad press they received from this stupid incident will cost them more than if every customer in that store, at that moment, had stolen ten iPhones each.
I'm thinking that this Apple store manager is better suited for a career as a cop, or politician, or biker gang member and that Apple really needs to have a hard look at its hiring criteria.
Read the story on CTV News
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