>>How about a police discription of a suspect such as:
>>"Black male" (or a white male for that matter).
>>
>>Is this a racist statment?
>
>>Of course not. That's a description. If you cannot discern the difference at this point, then I can't help you.
>
>So is "please sit that [white, black, brown, yellow] man/woman at booth number four". Isn't this a valid discription?
>
>Of course we should "all" be treated equally and should respect the rights/dignity of others, but I don't think should be color blind. I enjoy the differences.
>

The color is relevant in describing a criminal suspect or, for that matter, in describing a person so he or she can be identified.

In the restaurant example, there are different cases. The case cited was of the person being right there and still being identified by color. That seems wrong.

OTOH, if you have six couples waiting to be seated in the lobby and the maitre d' says to a hostess, "Please seat the black couple in the lobby at table 4," that's probably okay. The color is being used to identify, not to classify.

Tamar