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Comment by notinfuriated | Hacker News Reader

> "We (Coke) will give you money. You need to paint opponents of us as racist."

It's funny, I heard my father-in-law parroting this when complaining about soda taxes. I also don't care for the taxes, but I don't see them as inherently racist. In fact, hearing him say this made me think that the characterization of the tax being racist is, itself, racist, as it bears the presumption that various minorities more regularly make the irresponsible personal choice of drinking soda, and this is without any data to prove it.

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I think it's more of a blending of what's racist vs what's classist in America.

The argument should be that regressive taxes like soda taxes, much like speeding tickets, affects the poor at a much greater clip. Who cares about a soda tax or a speeding ticket when you make 500k a year? If you make that much and you want soda or you want to speed, you're going to do it. However, if you make 28k a year, the calculation is much different.

In America, poverty and race are strongly correlated (and there's causation, but I digress). Because of that, it's easy, although inaccurate, to use classism and racism interchangeably.

Calling someone racist creates a larger emotional response and is more damaging to social equity than calling someone classist.

Hence calling soda taxes racist.

I agree, but isn't it necessary to reckon with the fact that historically, explicitly and intentionally racist policies (for example, Jim Crow voting laws) often laundered themselves, when convenient, through classism in order to escape scrutiny? Put differently, would you contend that poll taxes were not racist?

Also, wouldn't we expect that organizations that are explicitly anti-racist would conclude that because classist policies or laws have racially disparate impacts, addressing them still increases racial equity even if they are ostensibly motivated by race-neutral class concerns?

> would you contend that poll taxes were not racist

I would not contend that they were not racist. I wasn't implying that every classist action is actually racist or vice-versa. Just that some are incorrectly labeled for rhetorical effect.

> addressing them still increases racial equity even if they are ostensibly motivated by race-neutral class concerns

Yep, nearly anything that effects class equity in the US will also effect racial equity.

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