Much Ado About Nothing........

.......at least that is my opinion. I have always contended that racism is colour blind but in this case would the descriptive "Ghetto Dude" be considered degoratory if the individual had been applying for a job at a hip hop radio station or similar venue? I doubt it.

Discrimination: more than a matter of semantics

When an Ontario government employee used informal racist slang to innocently describe a job applicant, she opened up a storm of controversy. Good

IKE AWGU

Special to Globe and Mail Update

July 31, 2007 at 7:50 PM EDT

Ghetto Dude (noun) 1. a pejorative term for black people; 2. a term that's commonly used in a positive context according to people such as Margaret Wente; 3. a word used to describe black candidates in the Ontario public service.

Last week, Evon Reid received a call at his Malvern home from the Premier of Ontario. Dalton McGuinty called to apologize to the 22-year-old University of Toronto graduate, who had recently applied for a job as a media analyst in a provincial cabinet office. The reason for the apology? Racism in the public service.

Evon had been described as “the ghetto dude” in an e-mail that a government worker had accidentally sent him. Aileen Siu, a supposed low-level contract employee, while never meeting Evon in person, was apparently able to surmise, based on his mother's Jamaican accent, the fact that his neighbourhood was poor and that he was black, and that the young man somehow warranted a derogatory label.