No pun intended - the game makes it clear that it may offend players, but it wanted to stay true to the timeline. To what was going on back then - and yes we are talking about discrimination or rather racism to call it by its name).
All that said, it is a bit much that not even one cop has different feelings towards Lincoln (the main character). Actually you could argue that is by affiliation ... but then, how does the heist inciting incident (big part of the story or what gets it rolling) any sense? In other words: do not overthink it.
Same goes for many repetitive tasks. If you are not out to get achievements or trophies, you may not care for those, which I think may make you enjoy the game more than if you did. Especially because so many years after the game was released (the original one even older) ... and yet it still is riddled with bugs. The biggest one being you not getting a trophy because the game crashes on you.
Now you may get lucky and it does not happen to you ... but I doubt you will be able to do it in 2 playthroughs ... I wish you all the best with that and I mean it. Can be frustrating and I know what I am talking about.
There are quite a few upgrades, but also changes that do not really improve the game from the previous one (Mafia II) ... we will get to see two characters from that movie. One of which you are even able to decide their fate for them ... funny to say the least to have them come back. And a really nice surprise - I liked it.
There are perks to win for people and districts - but you also have to be wary when it comes to the police ... and for the first time here: witnesses ... they can be fun at first, but quite annoying as time passes by. You will get a chance to "block" them with one of the perks - same is true with the police chases ... but again you may have issues with that.
The story is well told, I liked the mechanisms of the fighting or mostly shooting. In the second Mafia game you had your cousin a lot on your side. That was helpful at times - even more so when you played the game on higher difficulty. The thing that you don't have here (trophy/achievement wise): collecting ... that was quite harrowing in the previous game. And a waste of time ... here you can collect stuff, but you don't have to.
Great video sequences that further the story - and the very first big boss ... well the location (theme park) is something to behold on. It almost makes everything that comes after it feel small (though the boat is another highlight for sure).
This could have been so much better - as it is, those playing just for the fun of it, will have the most out of the game - still looking forward to the fourth mafia game coming out this year!