An Asian friend of mine was discreetly asked to re-apply for a job he had recently failed to win at interview.
It was all done on a nod and a wink, but he already knew the job was his because the Senior police officer who suggested he re-apply quite openly admitted that they needed more coloured faces on the force to meet their targets.
I'm happy for my friend, he's a good, honest guy (something the police can't have too much of), but even he would admit that he wasn't the best candidate on the day, just the guy with the darkest skin!
I find this kind of positive discrimination almost as worrying as the old kind and I think my friend will have a hard time integrating in a culture that needs to resort to this method of recruitment to show that it is not racist.