I’ve been trying to be conscious about including diversity around me lately, but part of me despaired at the simple mindedness of this train of thought. I want diverse media and artists, but how do I avoid actively profiling artists based on their race? It seems counterproductive. Clicking on a video because the musician(s) seem(s) diverse is shallow minded, is it not?
This is the double edged sword of targeting genetic diversity in things such as music where genetic diversity should not matter.
Can a German artist produce better music than an Indian or Irish or Japanese or Korean or Brazilian artist?
While I think that there is nothing wrong with diversity in terms of idea and content when it comes to music, I see targeting racial diversity to be ineffective, unless there is a nefarious goal in mind.
In short, Music is meant for enjoyment, and you shouldn’t care about the artist’s background, unless it’s important to understanding the meaning behind the music they create. Treat all artists the same, no matter their race or background and nobody with good intentions will criticize you.
I’m inclined to agree. The content of the music should be the primary reason the listener enjoys or chooses a song or artist.
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Do you ask your waitress what race the chef is before you decide if you like the meal or not?
It seems like you’re starting to understand that the whole “anti-racism” movement is based entirely around being racist yourself.
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I don’t know about music and “arts” in general, but for films you can’t really pick films to watch based on the director’s race or background. The films still have to be well made and interesting, it doesn’t really work like that.
So, for films, the best way to avoid the trap of only consuming that which comes out of Holywood’s bottom is to actively get more acquainted with the work of directors from other countries and backgrounds.
We all know “Akira”, but do you know the work of Katsuhiro Otomo? 
Or what about the less known works by Taika Waititi? He has a few more films in addition to Thor Ragnarog. Among my top 10 film directors are Inarrity, Del Toro, Cuaron, Winding Refn and Villeneuve. Three of them are not “white” as defined by Americans. Refn’s films are nuts, you might have even seen one of them, but what about his other films? So, instead of just randomly trying to limit what you watch, you can focus on intentioinally trying to learn more about less known directors with a “non-mainstream” background. It is not a lie to say that Hollywood is very limiting in the sense of what minority directors can and cannot do.
At the same time, you can’t know everything about everything – this is an ontological argument. You gotta limit what you can know based on your interests and time.
Just enjoy the vibe. If you want to do some academic research of origins or an intentional cultural trip, go ahead. You might be intruding a little by being out of place, but usually people are pretty chill.
Something to note with this is that you are not simply looking to listen to music of other races, but learning and appreciating their cultures. For example, 1990s west coast Hip-hop sounds different from 1980s Japanese Pop (in language naturally but also in the melodies, rhythms, etc). Both of which sound wildly different from Chopin.
Intaking a diverse range of media (music, movies, etc) helps broaden your horizons and maybe even lets you find a new genre you like
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This would be the goal for me, for sure, if I’m looking for something vastly different from what I currently listen to.
Start slowly, maybe check out some highly rated foreign stuff on Netflix. Alice in Borderland is good, Lupin is fun. Listen to the soundtracks as well, see if you enjoy any of the songs they selected.
You can also look at some of the stuff you already enjoy. For example a lot of mainstream music is actually inspired by music from other cultures. Jazz is a rabbit hole down which you will find a lot of Black music, for example.
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There’s something that my local area does with high school musicians. It’s called blind auditions. Basically, the judge sits behind an opaque wall. Then, the student who is trying out is called into the room to try out by a coordinator for that particular audition (I’ve volunteered for this position before). The judge never sees the student, and the student never sees the judge; only the coordinator and the student interact with each other. Heck, only the coordinator is allowed to speak. Thus, they are judged only by their musical talents. This helps prevent favoritism (i.e the judge and the student know each other). Another thing that it helps prevent is racial profiling. You never see the color of their skin if you cannot see them. However, the state board of education, in all of it’s stupidity, felt that there wasn’t enough diversity in the students selected. Thus they wanted to eliminate the “blind” part of the audition. Stuff like this is extremely stupid. Don’t do that kind of thing in the name of diversity.
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Do NOT treat it , like quota chasing.
One easy maneuver could be backpedaling, through your existing likes / media inventory. Some of your regarded artists / cinema / etc., may have been influenced by a past group / individual [abroad] and could potentially be a starting point, towards expanding your palate
You can’t. It terms of race, forced diversity is profiling based on race.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with saying you want to branch out and learn about music/movies/whatever from other cultures though.
But forcing yourself to watch/listen to things based on their race when you don’t even like it just sounds like racism to me.