San Francisco’s Hypocritical Multiculturalism

A week in New York City has left me even more convinced of San Francisco’s glaring hypocrisy toward its Latino and African-American residents. Although San Francisco prides itself on being a multicultural city, a place whose busses carry people of diverse nationalities and ethnicities, when it comes to employment in the city’s hip restaurants, blacks or Latinos are either missing or in the kitchen. These groups are also absent from the well-paying jobs in San Francisco’s popular small businesses selling clothing, housewares, and other goods. By contrast, New York City is often identified with racial tensions, but its multiculturalism extends to its waiters in upscale restaurants and sales staff in hip stores. No wonder some African-Americans in job training programs are pursuing the fools gold of Bayview Redevelopment; its far easier for local politicians to sell that promise than to ruffle feathers by demanding racial justice in hiring for the city’s small businesses.