I was indoctrinated at Very Big Corporation back in the 80's that given a white and a black job applicant, the company's policy was to prefer the black one as long as they meet the minimal requirements for the job. This was presented in annual mandatory Affirmative Action training as offical company policy, and was supposedly a requirement for government contracts.

Never mind that it was a blatant violation not only of the Constitution, but of the letter of the very government policy that initiated Affirmative Action to begin with.

well that's fair, that is the sort of inside info that I'd like to know.

And actually, that means I was unfair about your first comment - I wouldn't want to work for a place that operates that way anyway, as another top level comment notes. I think I can safely discard secret illegal hiring practices as a concern when interviewing, which does solve my issue of whether to answer truthfully or simply opt-out of those questions.