[omonra]

I think the headline is a bit misleading.

Racist would mean that hosts don't want to rent their apartment to people of other races (ie whites only wanting to rent to other whites). Here it seems that hosts are making a judgement call about the renter and using race as a parameter. They appear to have no problem renting to Asians or Indians, just have an issue with one particular ethnicity.

Wouldn't a more accurate headline be - 'Airbnb hosts don't want to rent to black customers' (even if it's highly anecdotal)?

[vishaldpatel]

Racial discrimination is when someone is discriminated on the basis of their race. It doesn't matter how friendly the perpetrator is to people of other races.

[omonra]

Right - but you appreciate the difference between someone

a) disliking all races different from one's own b) using one's life experience to form opinions about people and grouping them by - age / race / occupation / ethnicity / etc.

I think that using same word is wrong - as they are completely different phenomena.

[lhc-]

I dont think its really that different of a phenomenon. Item a) is a lot extrapolating item b) to everyone who doesn't share your race. Also, its completely possible to be racist against members of your own race, which still qualifies as racist behavior.

Basically, the general definition of racism is more about prejudice against one or more races, rather than about uplifting one specific race above everything else.

[true_religion]

Disliking all races different from your own is xenophobic. There is a different word for it. :)

[mikeklaas]

You don't have to be equally racist against all ethnicities to be called racist.

[natrius]

No one limits their usage of "racist" to the scenario you described, so that's not what it means. Your situation is racial supremacy, which is a special kind of racist.

[omonra]

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/racist

That is what it means, at least according to the dictionary.