temenus:

Anybody thinking that Hydra is somehow no longer a racist organization just because of Jasper Sitwell betraying SHIELD in The Winter Soldier, consider the following.

I’m not trying to claim that Jasper is a good guy, but he never actually identifies as Hydra, even when spilling what he knows he never says “we” or “us” instead it’s “threat to Hydra” and “Zola taught Hydra” . My take is that he is not a Hydra member but a SHIELD agent willing to betray his teammates. We never really know since he is killed almost immediately afterwards.

If we look at all the other characters we know or can reasonable assume are Hydra.

Senator Stern, is a bit of an issue since he is played by a Jewish actor, and was (when introduced in Iron Man 2) loosely based on the Jewish radio personality that shares his name. Still that is all meta knowledge, from just what is shown in the movie he is simply an old white guy.

Pierce and Rumlow, both white.

The team sent to kill Nick Fury, some are masked but all the exposed skin shown was white.

The team accompanying the Winter Soldier on the bridge, all white.

The scientists/doctors working on the Winter Soldier and the guards in the room, all white.

The SHIELD traitors taking control of the helicarriers, all white.

Scientist in the stinger scene, both white.

Are we starting to see a pattern? Not looking much like an equal opportunity organization after all.

The pattern continues in Agents of SHIELD. Raina was not told about her real employers until she was in their base, Mike Peterson had his son kidnapped and the workers in the Super Soldier control center were on the “incentive plan”.

No price for guessing the race of the people shown voluntary working for Hydra.

Ward can claim that Hydra has changed all he wants, but fact remains that their membership list does not really reflect that.