This is a great thread, and I've read some comments here that are definitely well thought out. However, I think it quite difficult to confine our thinking on this subject to the issue of discrimination in China or, more specifically, the question of hiring practices in EFL China due to the fact that this is a global issue. Moreover, affirmative action itself, especially in the West is an ongoing process that has undergone multiple changes as more and more people get involved in the debate. Certain states in America, for example, have abolished affirmative action because of the recognition that it can, as Yingwen has asserted, result in reverse discrimination.

As an American who finds discrimination of any kind abhorrent and one who has witnessed the evolution of affirmative action, I still find myself conflicted. Thankfully, I'm not a lawmaker who has to deal with this issue because it's not enough to simply state one's belief that discrimination is wrong. In 1978, our Supreme Court imposed limitations on affirmative action so that opportunities for minorities would not come at the expense of the rights of the majority. Nevertheless, the debate continues...................

In China, there is no actual policy covering the hiring of foreign minorities. Perhaps it will eventually become such a huge issue that it will have to be taken into consideration. Meanwhile, we can only hope that employers will approach the issue as right minded individuals and will simply choose their employees based on who will bring excellence into the EFL classroom. I think it's been mentioned in this forum before that there are private school leaders who operate under the false assumption that the parents of their students want only white teachers for those students. Of course that's utter nonsense, and in that situation we are looking at blatant racism. Therefore, anyone that works for such an employer is only contributing to the furtherance of discrimination.

So, for me, that's the bottom line. If I were to find that I'm working for an employer that is a racist, I simply wouldn't work there anymore. That's the best I can do - I'm not going to create a sea change in China on this or any other issue. I can only follow my own beliefs and hope that discrimination doesn't rear its ugly head in such a manner that it drives me out of China in a state of disgust. So far, in that it seems a fairly isolated issue in small pockets of EFL China, it hasn't done that. On the other hand, I have to admit that if I were black, it would probably become a much bigger issue for me, and especially so if I were refused a job based on my color and I were absolutely sure that it was for that reason I was not hired.

For your perusal:
Proposition 209 enacted in California
A state ban on all forms of affirmative action was passed in California: "The state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting." Proposed in 1996, the controversial ban had been delayed in the courts for almost a year before it went into effect.