A reader points to a controversy over a Chinese restaurant that was found to discriminate against non-Chinese speakers. They had one menu in English where the fried rice cost 3 bucks and another in Mandarin where it cost 2. Big Deal or No Big Deal?
It's no big deal but it's still wrong and should be corrected by law if not lawsuit. A restaurant is, as far as I know by definition, a public accommodation. An important principle is being violated here.
My theory of Effective Resonance suggests that the costs and remedies related to discrimination should vary according to the social power of the affected class. And I think it is may very well be a reasonable stereotype that Chinese speakers in America who eat at such restaurants are less well off economically speaking than those English speaking Americans (tourists?) who use the same restaurants. So I can accept that caveat and say that it's no big deal. We're not going to degrade liberty because Americans are priced out of hot and sour soup. Nevertheless, I would get hot and sour if I were to discover such pricing.
Understand that there is no fundamental difference here between saying that the rent for an apartment is 800 for English speakers and 900 for Spanish speakers. You offer the same goods for different prices, and so you are purposefully favoring one sort of customer over another. There really is no other excuse.
Some folks have mentioned matters of colorblindness are under attack from critical race theorists, that there are not generally times where it is appropriate to ignore race. This is a mixed bag which makes the most sense in academic settings. In this case colorblindness is appropriate. But I'll deal with that mixed bag later.
Bottom line. The restaurateur must equalize the prices or be prepared to get cursed out in Chinese by people he never expected.
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