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Comment by gpm | Hacker News Reader

Say you're, I don't know, the person who gives driving license tests. You fail a <race> person, person claims you are racist against <race>. How do you make sure no one has examples like that? Just always pass literally everyone no matter how bad a driver they are in case they're going to later claim discrimination?

You can avoid explicit examples with evidence attached ("he called me a n-word and fired me, see <youtube link>") but I don't see how you can reliably avoid claims of bias. And while the nyt article isn't out yet, I'm willing to bet that these (like most) claims is one of bias. Moreoever most actual legitimate instances of racism are also going to be of that form, because most people aren't stupid enough to make illegal things they are doing obvious.

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You can provide the reason for your decision. If you routinely evaluate driving tests, you will have based your decision on factors that you have applied without bias.

And if you feel so inclined, you can express your understanding to that person who feels that they have been wronged because of their background. Chances are they have been right far more often than they have been wrong and it's very stressful having to deal with an ever-present potential for unprovoked adversity.

It should be a very small burden on you to acknowledge their situation.

To return to the topic, Coinbase doesn't lose a breath acknowledging their Black employees who did file complaints. If they had any sympathy for these employees — which they should have even if they were not wronged for being Black — why didn't they express it in the statement?

That kind of thing would not hold up in court without a strong pattern proved or additional explicitly discriminatory behavior. Discrimination is surprisingly hard to prove, in fact.

We're not talking about court (or at least I'm not), we're talking about a newspaper article and reputation.

(I edited a second half into my original comment that might make this clearer, though I did that before I saw your reply)

Well, I think people have to decide for themselves. If you accuse someone of bias without sufficient evidence, there’s no reason you should be believed. As for most instances of racism merely being bias, I don’t think this is the case, at least for allegations that make it into the NYT. Typically there is also evidence of a hostile environment provided. When there isn’t then the evidence of bias needs to speak for itself.

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