A friend of mine is a film director, his mother is the director of a women's shelter (I designed their logo a few years ago) and she recently commissioned him to direct a tv advert against domestic violence, pro her shelter.

He showed me the ad to ask my opinion about it and what happened (I can't disclose it here yet): It shows a man verbally and physically abusing a woman, in slow-motion, while a grave voice over says some statistics and how bad "domestic violence" is (for women) so look for the shelter, etc. Really dramatic stuff.

The man assaulting the woman is black, and my friend told me he got a lot of shit for having cast him. In his defense, he said the man had been the actor who had the best audition, and if he had NOT cast him because of his skin color, he would be discriminating AGAINST him, regardless of the reason. The board (including his mother) could see that, but they were worried whether it would be offensive to the black community, and a misrepresentation of reality.

I just had to laugh.

He eventually convinced them, and, after shooting the commercial he made the mistake of talking about it lightly with the actor, of how he almost didn't get the job because he was black and the board thought it would send the wrong message. The actor AGREED WITH THEM and suddenly got terribly offended at my friend, who had stuck his neck out for him.

He said he preferred to be discriminated against if it meant keeping up appearances.

And this is how people propose we end discrimination?