Quote Originally Posted by BCram View Post
The answer is that the action of the salon owner was racist and therefore exactly the same as the action of the shopkeeper in that both actions fall foul of legislation.
Whether or not one agrees with the outcome of these incidents depends on whether you agree that both incidents fall within the legal definitions of the relevant legislation. Since both were settled out of court there is no legal decision and perhaps the law might have rejected both claims. I am sitting on the fence!
The salon owner was probably (definitely for me) showing some bias toward racism; but only if it's racist to define your business' product or service in a particular way (image) and to want to employ people that openly project that image in a customer facing role.

Would an African cafe specializing in for example Nigerian food really be that wrong to say they'd prefer not to have white people serving that food? For me that cafe would be right to only employ Nigerians to fully project the ethos and to maintain the genuine feel of the place. strictly speaking it's racist, but is it possibly justifiable?