4 ms·

Is this a good thing? Why should I care about the skin color of the owner of a restaurant or business I'm thinking of going to?

by eloff 6y ago

baddox 6y ago
I don't think you need to look for a "should." The article says: > Google said it has seen “a surge in online searches for Black-owned businesses” in recent months So it seems like a feature Google decided is useful for its visitors in the same way that a business' address, operating hours, and reviews are useful for its visitors.
- albacur 6y ago
  By that logic, if they saw a surge of interest in white-owned businesses, it would be justified adding a “white-owned business” label. I think we can say “segregating people based on skin color is wrong in principle,” or “segregating people is acceptable if it benefits those who are disadvantaged,” but I don’t see segregating races based on search interest as a reasonable policy.
  - baddox 6y ago
    “Segregation” means “forced separation,” but you seem to be using it to mean “recognizition of any distinction.”
    - Ancapistani 6y ago
      No, not necessarily. Neither the dictionary on my desk nor Wikipedia define the term as requiring force.
      - baddox 6y ago
        I think the context is pretty clear here.
- Natsu 6y ago
  Google isn't the first, I believe it was Grubhub that did this earlier and there may have been others I'm not aware of.
  - baddox 6y ago
    The US government also has a similar distinction: https://www.sba.gov/category/business-groups/minority-owned https://www.sba.gov/category/business-groups/minority-owned
ultrarunner 6y ago
It could have a downside, too, if (even unaware) racists use the information to choose a competitor.
- bluedino 6y ago
  The other downside is they aren’t flagged as black owned, when they are. For example, Yelp has a “Black owned businesses” link right at the top of the first screen of the app. I clicked on it. There is one listed in my city. My city’s population is about 50% black, and there are way more than a single black owned business nearby.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
pcbro141 6y ago
You don't have to. I think it's only the Government that should have to provide economic remedies like reparations to close the racial wealth gap/legacy of centuries of legalized racism in the America. I will do my part to support Black Americans as a private individual, but really it's going to take Government action to close the racial wealth gap.
Townley 6y ago
My personal reason for caring: Without saying that white-owned businesses have it easy (no one has it easy these days), I believe that black-owned businesses face additional, unique challenges that white-owned businesses don’t. Some of those challenges are new (eg communities of color being disproportionately impacted by COVID-19) and others have been around for much longer (ranging from black communities being historically disenfranchised to the the mental overhead of code switching when talking to the majority of the country). Taken as a whole, I feel they contribute to a reality where owning a business is harder for a person of color than a white person. That appeals to my sense of fairness in business: someone shouldn’t have to work 10%, 20%, or 100% harder to achieve the same outcomes. I feel ill-equipped to address this unfairness systemically (volunteering my time to teach code is the only example I can think of at the moment) but letting the reality of a black-owned business’s challenges factor into my purchasing decisions feels like a valid way to tip the scales back a bit closer to equilibrium.
- reportgunner 6y ago
  > someone shouldn’t have to work 10%, 20%, or 100% harder to achieve the same outcomes This will never stop happening, no matter how hard you try. Do you seriously believe that someone with 30 years of experience should work as hard as someone who is doing it for the first time ? That just doesn't make sense.

Is this a good thing? Why should I care about the skin color of the owner of a restaurant or business I'm thinking of going to?

by eloff 6y ago

Is this a good thing? Why should I care about the skin color of the owner of a restaurant or business I'm thinking of going to?

baddox 6y ago

I don't think you need to look for a "should." The article says: > Google said it has seen “a surge in online searches for Black-owned businesses” in recent months So it seems like a feature Google decided is useful for its visitors in the same way that a business' address, operating hours, and reviews are useful for its visitors.

albacur 6y ago
By that logic, if they saw a surge of interest in white-owned businesses, it would be justified adding a “white-owned business” label. I think we can say “segregating people based on skin color is wrong in principle,” or “segregating people is acceptable if it benefits those who are disadvantaged,” but I don’t see segregating races based on search interest as a reasonable policy.
- baddox 6y ago
  “Segregation” means “forced separation,” but you seem to be using it to mean “recognizition of any distinction.”
  - Ancapistani 6y ago
    No, not necessarily. Neither the dictionary on my desk nor Wikipedia define the term as requiring force.
    - baddox 6y ago
      I think the context is pretty clear here.
Natsu 6y ago
Google isn't the first, I believe it was Grubhub that did this earlier and there may have been others I'm not aware of.
- baddox 6y ago
  The US government also has a similar distinction: https://www.sba.gov/category/business-groups/minority-owned https://www.sba.gov/category/business-groups/minority-owned

ultrarunner 6y ago

It could have a downside, too, if (even unaware) racists use the information to choose a competitor.

bluedino 6y ago
The other downside is they aren’t flagged as black owned, when they are. For example, Yelp has a “Black owned businesses” link right at the top of the first screen of the app. I clicked on it. There is one listed in my city. My city’s population is about 50% black, and there are way more than a single black owned business nearby.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

pcbro141 6y ago

You don't have to. I think it's only the Government that should have to provide economic remedies like reparations to close the racial wealth gap/legacy of centuries of legalized racism in the America. I will do my part to support Black Americans as a private individual, but really it's going to take Government action to close the racial wealth gap.

Townley 6y ago

My personal reason for caring: Without saying that white-owned businesses have it easy (no one has it easy these days), I believe that black-owned businesses face additional, unique challenges that white-owned businesses don’t. Some of those challenges are new (eg communities of color being disproportionately impacted by COVID-19) and others have been around for much longer (ranging from black communities being historically disenfranchised to the the mental overhead of code switching when talking to the majority of the country). Taken as a whole, I feel they contribute to a reality where owning a business is harder for a person of color than a white person. That appeals to my sense of fairness in business: someone shouldn’t have to work 10%, 20%, or 100% harder to achieve the same outcomes. I feel ill-equipped to address this unfairness systemically (volunteering my time to teach code is the only example I can think of at the moment) but letting the reality of a black-owned business’s challenges factor into my purchasing decisions feels like a valid way to tip the scales back a bit closer to equilibrium.

reportgunner 6y ago
> someone shouldn’t have to work 10%, 20%, or 100% harder to achieve the same outcomes This will never stop happening, no matter how hard you try. Do you seriously believe that someone with 30 years of experience should work as hard as someone who is doing it for the first time ? That just doesn't make sense.