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Sorry, your wife is Indian, landlord won’t rent to you

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Re: Sorry, your wife is Indian, landlord won’t rent to you

#171
post #168
post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>classed as being marginally racist, usually they do not really mean the things they say. As someone that moved to a very very racist part of the US in their teens (near a sundown town), this is by far the most scary statement you could write. I believe you would be far more concerned if you understood the enormity of it when you look at it in the converse. This person you mention that creates an exception 'for one o…

When is the last time a racial lynching happened that was not prosecuted or was utterly ignored by the local authorities? I don't deny such attitudes. But I would be suprised if such attitudes extended to a complete abnegation of local authority to prosecute a lynching. Even in a sundown town.

Let's turn around and say "When was the last 'lynching' that WAS the authorities?"

If George Floyd's murder had not been filmed Derek Chauvin would still be on the police force and not in prison. This is why you should watch the video attached in my previous reply. Especially in the south the local authorities were actively involved in gathering slaves (remember prison slavery is legal to this day in the US).

Re: Sorry, your wife is Indian, landlord won’t rent to you

#172
post #127

Landlording is something that is likely to make a person more racist. A couple of bad experiences and you start preferring people similar to those that did not give trouble in the past.

It’s a reminder that your own stereotypes exist for a reason. You’ll never remove that from the human brain. It’s not always a bad thing (your brain takes in cues, combines them with experiences, and uses that to make decisions while spending less energy). But we should be careful to not let our own biases be baked into systems and processes.

Most people won't waste any time unless someone is recommended. In an atomized society network is key. A very good and active network will help you go against the odds.

Re: Sorry, your wife is Indian, landlord won’t rent to you

#173

In many parts of Canada, you have reverse racism where the - nationally speaking - minorities in certain cities (Richmond and Brampton especially) own the majority of properties. It's not uncommon to see Craigslist or Kijiji rental ads stating "Indian only" or "Chinese only" and refusing rentals to other races.

It's not actually reverse racism. It's just racism.

Re: Sorry, your wife is Indian, landlord won’t rent to you

#174
post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't deny they exist, but they have been marginalized in society. They don't hold any significant power in terms of holding people back.

The problem isn't overt racists so much as subtle, persistent bias, which absolutely holds people back in very significant ways. See my comment about my grandmother. And... unless you're in a marginalized minority group, you really aren't in a position to know how racist people are. Oh yeah, I just remembered, we also recently had a president for four years who was overly racist. Remember his attacks on Judge Curiel?…

>

Does this mean that it is not empirically measurable then? That would explain a lot because actual data is what I find missing from the claims of how prevalent racism is.

Re: Sorry, your wife is Indian, landlord won’t rent to you

#176
post #2

A similar thing happened to me and my partner in the US, in a fairly liberal part, so I'm not entirely surprised that it's happening in SEA. People wouldn't rent to us because we told them we cook at home and these white folks were like "but Indian food smells!"

I'm Indian, but if they claim Indian food smells, you could ask them to write down in the contract that you will bear the damage caused by the smell sticking onto the surfaces it interacts with, either by replacing/repairing what's damaged or paying for the replacements/repairs which could be included in the caution deposit. Another reassurance would be to write in the contract that the house owner can legally enter the property to check/inspect for any damages to re-assure and charge for any damages.

The problem with these clauses is that people can exploit you.

Re: Sorry, your wife is Indian, landlord won’t rent to you

#177
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Too bad there isn't a service that could look into the historical background of prospective tenants to gain references, criminal, credit, job and salary information. Completely objective and mostly without inherent prejudices. We may even call it something like "a background check". Just spitballing ideas!

Because someone who has a stolen food from a store once is a bad tenant? Or someone who once forget to pay a credit card bill is bad tenant? Landlords should simply not be allowed to deny a potential tenant unless they can't pay. You don't play games with living essentials.

Sometimes it's painfully obvious who is giving their idealistic opinion and who is speaking from personal experience.

Re: Sorry, your wife is Indian, landlord won’t rent to you

#179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Genuinely asking, what would be an example of pure, overt, common racism in American life?

Try being black or brown in the us south or southeast.

Again, not an example. I live in the SE - and see very little overt racism. So I'm genuinely asking for examples of what I'm missing.
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