Originally Posted by
Biomega
That depends, though.
Racism isn't always an active process. In fact, most of the time it's NOT. The people who go "you know what, I really HATE black people" are on the extreme end of the spectrum - and though they tend to have some serious potential for real danger, they're often not actually the biggest problem.
The more insidious problem are people who go "what, me, no I'm not racist no way" but ACT in racist ways anyway - they're often not even aware of their own biases, even though they display them in their actions. That makes it not only very tricky to act against, it also makes it hard to get them to understand their own biases.
Take, for example, hiring procedures. It's been demonstrated many times that if you obscure racial traits (photos, names, etc.) then identical candidates tend to get treated significantly more equitably than if you display those traits. But that's rarely because an HR person goes "oh no, we're not hiring a BLACK person heavens no" but because somehow, unconsciously, they find NON-RACIST EXCUSES to exclude them disproportionately more often. If you dig deep enough and insistently enough, you can sometimes reveal those - like people going "I didn't feel they would be a good fit" and you asking them explain what that means, exactly.
This is a similar situation. And it's also why we're asking for JUSTIFICATION when people go "I just don't think a black actor is a good fit here" (or whatever variation thereof). Of course you're not wrong that people going "I just don't like it" is just their subjective preference that we, in principle, don't get to argue with (since it's not an argument to begin with) - but that doesn't mean there aren't biases or bigotry at work there.
And if people stubbornly refuse to give any substantial reason, or if they become evasive or combative or lash out - then those are all indicators that maybe, just maybe, there is more going on here than "I just don't like it". Because it's pretty specific if you "just don't like" people of particular skin colors, and for reasons you can't or won't articulate.
The same way we wouldn't excuse someone going "I just don't like African Americans, that's personal preference and just my opinion" we also shouldn't excuse people who JUST go "I don't like black actors in this, that's personal preference and just my opinion". You can articulate opinions more deeply than that, and you can - and should - critically examine your own opinions to begin with. That doesn't mean EVERYONE who doesn't like the black actors in this adaptation is a racist, but it does mean that probing a little deeper as to whether or not hidden, unconscious biases are at work here is entirely justified.
And let's be clear: the way at least SOME people on here have been arguing and behaving DOES make them being racist pretty damn likely.