Absolutely correct. We have come a long way in the last 3 or 4 generations but we still have a long way to go. But I'm hopeful that this could be a thing of the past in just a few more generations.
Adding that a big part of the issue - at least for me - is not treatment on the mountain by mountain staff, but in travel etc to/from places to ski, esp in places where black people are rare. I love Vermont. People are nice to me in Vermont. I don't drive very fast, but two of three times in my life I've been pulled over for speeding were in Vermont (and not Route 100) even though it's only a small portion of my driving. The police were nice enough but I can't help but wonder. I used to travel a lot for bike racing with a white friend, and he said to me one day "I never get pulled over this much except when you're in the car." I've had police come up to me while I was just sitting in my car in public (park-and-ride) parking lots. Followed by police driving in small towns.
I think ski/tourism industries can and should push for other institutions in their communities to check for racial and other biases (even unconscious) and work on them. And so if you care about diversity and inclusion on the mountain, think about what you can do in society as a whole.
I'll add that I find statements such as "snow doesn't know what color you are" or "money doesn't know what color you are" annoying because skiing doesn't happen in a vacuum - there is travel and spending and learning that do involve other people and institutions.
There is one ski center (nordic) where a person on ski patrol talked to me in a way I thought was kinda racist, but everyone else there on staff, on patrol, etc plus other skiers were so fair and nice that I kept coming back to the place. I actually had a season pass at the time and was not doing anything wrong. I still remember that. If more people had been like that one person, it would have turned me off. But humans are not perfect so I'll take one outlier.
I can't be 100% that it's race-based, but, we're dressed as well as anyone else and we've only lived in relatively wealthy areas, so ... you tell me. We get followed around a lot in specialty realtors where you pick your items and bring to a cashier, even when we repeatedly let staff know we don't need assistance. I've been in these same stores with my white friends, with the same employees, and at the same level of business (often on the same day), and the difference is jarring.
This is my life too, and it's actually a reason I greatly prefer buying stuff online rather than in stores. It's getting better in stores, but particularly as a young man the retail experience in stores was terrible in sooo many places. I don't think white men notice this at all - it's not their experience. And it happens everywhere - not just in places known for a lot of racism.
It's America and this is a very common thing for some of us. Denying this reality, or suggesting it's very rare and that talking about it is divisive really annoys me. And frankly, with social media it's good to talk about it. When I was young I thought it it was about me or that the retail experience has to be about being treated like a likely thief. Maybe I wasn't dressed right. Maybe I looked shifty or acted shifty. And reading an older friend (an elegant, brilliant black professor at MIT who was also a helluva bike racer when younger) talk on Facebook about his experiences was very helpful to me. I appreciate S.H. sharing as a non-black person too. And Nanook for having his eyes open. Thank you.
I don't think white women get treated as likely criminals much, but the "bro"-oriented bad service (ignored, talked down to, not listened to) many women get in a lot of sporting goods places is related though not the same as racism.
In cycling, there used to be and continues to be a lot of shaming for shopping online, with "Support your LBS!!!" and I think "Why? So many were not nice to me"
I do support the ones that are good to me and steer people to them. And in skiing, shout out to the West Hill Shop in Putney VT and Ski Barn in Wayne NJ!!!!