Pair stumped by racist soap dispenser

A future dependent on technology is meant to continually improve our lives, but two US men have discovered even a supposedly benign machine can discriminate.

A video taken by YouTube user Teej Meister in a hotel bathroom at the Marriott Marquis, Atlanta, showed a black man unsuccessfully attempting to use a soap dispenser, before pulling his hand away.

“Black hand, nothing. Larry, go,” he says as he invites his white friend to have a crack at the stubborn machine – an attempt that proves successful. His hand immediately activates the dispenser.

However, commenters on YouTube weren’t as quick to accuse the inanimate object of prejudice, with some questioning the positioning of the two men’s hands.

“He hold his hand farther away from it, and from this angle, kind of looks like his hand isn't actually fully underneath where the sensor might be,” one said.

But the first man was not convinced, telling the camera what he thought of the dispenser’s lack of action.

“Racist mother sinks,” he said.