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Comment by kerryfalk | Hacker News Reader

"I am not racist or anything, but 100% of them in Geneva are black - that's 5 years of experience"

...it doesn't seem far of a stretch to make the leap to using your statement here to indicate that you may in fact be racist.

There was no reason to indicate their race, so why do it? Did they have blue eyes, too? What can I infer from shady blue-eyed people on street corners selling me drugs?

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Geneva is something like 0.1% black. If in 5 years of buying drugs, you find that ~80% of your dealers are black, then I think you can make the assumption that most drug dealers in Geneva are black. I don't see that as racism - that's just a statement of fact.

Now, if you carried that one step further and said that black people in Geneva are probably drug dealers, then yeah, that's racist...

I think the idea is that the racial parenthetical is completely irrelevant. It adds no meaning except to underline the point about "shady characters."

that was not the intent... those guys have probably some tough lives behind them and no future here, living often without permit on the fringe of society. it's just that meeting them in dark alleys after dark, being surrounded by suspicion etc. ain't activity I do for pleasure or some weird kick out of it; just a necessary evil.

OK, but their race is still irrelevant.

But there is no reason not to point it out. He made an observation about the drug dealers in his area, and mentioned it. I don't see why there would be anything more to it than that.

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