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Racial Preference or Prejudice
There is a fine line between racial preference and prejudice and knowing the difference between the two may curb unconscious racism.
Anyone of color has likely been on a dating app and seen the following on someone’s profile, “PREFER X RACE, please do not message me if you are of a different race. I’m not interested.” Messages like these are common nowadays as more people shift their dating habits to meeting others online. And with the pandemic accelerating the shift to online dating, it is more important than ever that we all understand the difference between preference and prejudice. There is often a fine line between the two.
Preference simply refers to a greater liking for one thing over other options available. For example, I could say that I prefer to eat apples but this doesn’t mean that I will not indulge in other fruits if apples are not available. It just means that if I had the option to choose from apples over other fruits available there is a good chance I am going to pick the apple. We all have preferences in life. Some people prefer to watch Netflix over Hulu, but they will not entirely rule out Hulu. If a good enough series comes on Hulu, then they would be likely to watch it over something on Netflix. Preference is not inherently dangerous until it becomes…
