(...above. "It's why we have Trump.)
An Airbnb host in California has been banned after an Asian American guest claimed her reservation was canceled at the last minute because of her race.
Airbnb spokesman Nick Papas told The Washington Post in an email that the host’s behavior was
“abhorrent and unacceptable.”
The company has in recent years faced growing complaints of racial discrimination by its hosts.
Dyne Suh, a 25-year-old law student in Riverside, said she and her fiancé had been looking forward to a short vacation over Presidents’ Day weekend in Big Bear Lake, a popular ski getaway about two hours by car east of Los Angeles.
About a month before their trip, Suh booked a mountain cabin on Airbnb listed as a “Tree House Loft and Private Bathroom” in Running Springs, Calif. Suh told The Post in a phone interview Friday that she later messaged the host to ask if she could add two friends and two puppies to the reservation and was told it would be fine.
“We were looking forward to it, especially with law school and working and being really busy,” Suh told NBC Los Angeles on Wednesday.
“It was a welcome break.”
On Feb. 17, the group of four set out up the mountain. An intense winter storm was then hitting the area, making road conditions hazardous and prompting flash-flood warnings.
When they were minutes away from the cabin, Suh sent a message to the host through the Airbnb app to let her know they were close and asked how they might pay for adding the two friends to the reservation.
That’s when their trip took a turn.
“One word says it all." ( ...said the host.) "Asian”
When Suh replied that she would report the host to Airbnb for being racist, the host told her to “Go ahead” ,and...see above.
“It’s why we have Trump.”
“And I will not allow this country to be told what to do by foreigners,” the host added.
To compound the problem, the continued snow was making it increasingly dangerous to get down the mountain, according to Suh.
“By the grace of God,”
Suh said in a Facebook comment, there was a crew from "KTLA 5" local Television News that happened to be parked near them on the mountain while covering the winter storm. One of the station’s reporters, Steve Kuzj, interviewed Suh using his smartphone.
Still reeling from what had just happened, Suh sobbed as she recounted what she said were the host’s messages.
Video from that KTLA 5 interview was uploaded to YouTube this week.
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My comments.
We have not come as far as we had hoped. There seems a stubborn 30 percent or so that cling to what could be summed up as "White is Right". That is white men/women have prerogatives over everyone else. ...and always will.
As for that 30%.
On reflection this is not an American manifestation. The rise of intolerant populism all over the west is a larger symptom. A tribal reaction to a world wired together. Cultures, and people are coming together exchanging all.
As it happens the unity of humanity was not by morality, but by the practical matter of just getting things done. Be it business or morality there is that hardcore of us that just can't go there. They have impregnable steel re-enforced tribal instincts. Until they pass away we're stuck with them.
There are political forces that know better, but use these people as an ends to power. The American Republican party the British Conservative party Le pen's French National Front are examples of this. The only solution is to make sure these communities of the Bigoted never has vital influence. ...out vote them.
France I'm looking at you...Dead fucking in your eyes. Out Vote them!
That or you'll be decades repairing the damage as we Americans, and British are now.
Stay Tuned.
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