&gt; Doesn&#x27;t this just promote the idea that people of different ethnicities really are that different?<p>This is pretty much the &quot;but we&#x27;re a meritocracy&quot; argument, and it&#x27;s unfortunately wrong.<p>Having worked extensively with the behavioural science behind things like hiring processes, performance reviews, etc. I can conclusively tell you that we do not live in a meritocracy.<p>People get discriminated against, constantly. That&#x27;s the reality they live in. They don&#x27;t need a conference to tell them that.<p>I&#x27;ll go further. Believing that you yourself are unbiased and meritocratic is shown to be correlated with an increase in unconscious bias in your actions through effects such as moral licencing. (See the work by Daniel Effron)<p>(Edit: you can downvote me if you don&#x27;t like what I&#x27;m saying, but you&#x27;re downvoting science, not opinion)