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Coincidentally on Hacker News front page right now ... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18318647 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18318647 ... a story a
by nwatson 8y ago
Coincidentally on Hacker News front page right now ... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18318647 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18318647 ... a story about being black while legitimately shopping with no intention of stealing. I'm not sure the author of that article could use the hi-viz trick and get away with it ... or have the luxury of even contemplating it as a lark all in "harmless fun".
edit: grammar and emphasis
- fggdgvcdderr 8y agoAll those years I have enjoyed my get-stuff-for-free-by-wearing-a-safety-vest privilege without even realizing it. It is a cruel and unfair world, indeed.
- rv-de 8y agoOne could argue that to somebody with racist inclination a black person wearing a hi-viz might look even more credible.
- naasking 8y agoExactly. No one intentionally drawing attention to themselves could possibly be up to something nefarious, they'd draw too much attention to themselves to get away with anything.
- SmellyGeekBoy 8y agoI think GP was playing on the assumption that those employed in these traditionally low-paid jobs such as security and maintenance would predominantly be black.
- wilbo 8y agoI once was shadowing a deliver driver in a suburban neighborhood. We were both in high viz and I stayed in the car for this delivery. The guy rang the bell and no one answered so he followed standard process and looked for a secure location to reduce the chance of theft when he left the package unattended. He was looking for just a few seconds when a neighbor came up to hassle him, ask him what he was doing and accused him of wanting to rob the place. While wearing a hi-viz vest. Racists will see whatever they want to see. He could have been wearing a flashing hard hat too and I'm sure the neighbor still would have harassed him.