Airbnb Host Who Canceled Reservation Using Racist Comment Must Pay $5,000

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Airbnb host Tami Barker has been ordered to pay $5,000 in damages for racial discrimination and take a course in Asian American studies after canceling a woman’s reservation using a racist remark. She must also agree to comply with anti-discrimination laws, make a personal apology, participate in a community education panel, and volunteer with a civil rights organization. Airbnb is an online service that allows people to lease or rent short-term lodging, such as vacation rentals, hostel beds, or hotel rooms.

Dyne Suh, a 26-year-old law clerk, had booked Tami Barker’s mountain cabin in Big Bear, California, for a skiing weekend with friends in February, but Barker canceled the reservation by text message minutes before they arrived, stating: “I wouldn’t rent it to u if u were the last person on earth” and “One word says it all. Asian”. This is the first time an Airbnb host has been penalized for racial discrimination under a landmark agreement between the San Francisco-headquartered accommodation marketplace and the California department of fair employment and housing (DFEH), announced earlier this year.
 
.. but wait, there's more!

In addition to paying monetary damages and taking a college-level course in Asian American studies, Barker must agree to comply with anti-discrimination laws, make a personal apology to Suh, participate in a community education panel and volunteer with a civil rights organization.

“We were thinking pretty creatively with this agreement,” said Kevin Kish, director of DFEH. “The law tends to be backwards-looking, focusing on compensating people for harm. We’re interested in remedies that repair harm and transform relationships.”
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This time the meme works:

110px-Thats_racist.gif
 
Is this the case where the person who wanted to rent for a weekend decided to spring on the owner that a 1 person room had a slight change and she was bringing 2 friends and her dog (and then another dog) with her to stay the weekend?
I thought that's where the argument started and led down to "muh racism" after the agreements of staying over with massive modifications from the original deal.
 
Is that the race baiting SJW woman that wanted to change the terms of their agreement before she got to the cabin? Or am I thinking of someone else?
 
face2palm said:
I'm surprised they didn't lynch her then have her publicly flogged as well.
Click to expand...
Presumably you would flog before the lynch, but that may be a regional thing.

The follow up was bizarre as well. I am not getting why invoking Trump as President makes folk think it's ok to do this... ignorant idiots..

Suh booked Barker’s place for a long weekend with her fiance in February 2017 a month in advance for $250 a night. When Suh later asked if it was OK to bring two friends and two dogs along, Barker said it was fine but the group would need to pay an additional $50 a night, according to screenshots of their text messages.

On the day of the booking, the foursome drove for hours in the rain and snow to Big Bear. Minutes away from the house, Suh texted Barker to let them know they were close and to confirm the cost of the stay. According to Suh, Barker then denied she ever agreed to having two extra guests and canceled the reservation, despite Suh sending her screenshots of their earlier agreement.

When Suh said she’d complain to Airbnb about the racist remark, Barker replied: “It’s why we have Trump … and I will not allow this country to be told what to do by foreigners.”

In an emotional video immediately after the incident, Suh said: “I just feel so hurt. People thought: ‘Oh, with the election of President Obama racism is over in this country.’ No, it’s very much alive, it exists and it could happen to anyone.”

“It stings that after living in the US for over 23 years this is what happens. No matter if I follow the law ... no matter how well I treat others, it doesn’t matter. If you’re Asian, you’re less than human and people can treat you like trash.”
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Peculiar since she works in the ESL education field. Figure she wouldn't be that overtly racist. Go figure.

Tami Barker is a Test Scorer for the Educational Testing Service (ETS) as well as an ESL instructor and writing center tutor at Mt. San Jacinto College (a community college) and Instructor of Workshops and Substitute Teacher at the University of California, Riverside.
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https://www.everipedia.com/tami-barker-airbnb-host/
 
There's way more to this story than this nonsense.

Dyne Suh, texted last minute saying Hey we have 2 dogs and 2 extra people, she did not get confirmation prior to this, she has shown ZERO proof but tried to screw over the airbnb host.

pretty sure the host knew she was asian prior along with her photo, and RIGHT after she was told this horrific news she ran into a news agency? Not to mention that she's a huge SJW that supports the BLM terrorist group.

So chances are way more than meets the eye.
No idea wtf the airbnb host was saying with the Asian remark, that's just idiotic
 
She wants to make sure all those dirty furriners learn to speak American!
 
shad0w4life said:
There's way more to this story than this nonsense.

Dyne Suh, texted last minute saying Hey we have 2 dogs and 2 extra people, she did not get confirmation prior to this, she has shown ZERO proof but tried to screw over the airbnb host.

pretty sure the host knew she was asian prior along with her photo, and RIGHT after she was told this horrific news she ran into a news agency? Not to mention that she's a huge SJW that supports the BLM terrorist group.

So chances are way more than meets the eye.
No idea wtf the airbnb host was saying with the Asian remark, that's just idiotic
Click to expand...

If what was quoted in the article is what the airbnb host said, there's nothing else to say. It was a straight up racist comment to the core and there's no reason to EVER say such a thing particularly in a business process unless you're being a racist.
 
shad0w4life said:
There's way more to this story than this nonsense.

Dyne Suh, texted last minute saying Hey we have 2 dogs and 2 extra people, she did not get confirmation prior to this, she has shown ZERO proof but tried to screw over the airbnb host.

pretty sure the host knew she was asian prior along with her photo, and RIGHT after she was told this horrific news she ran into a news agency? Not to mention that she's a huge SJW that supports the BLM terrorist group.

So chances are way more than meets the eye.
No idea wtf the airbnb host was saying with the Asian remark, that's just idiotic
Click to expand...
Technically, and with screen shots that aren't the full story, Dyne asked Tami about 1 3 month old puppy and 2 extra people. Tami (the owner) indicated they would have to pay 25$ per extra person per night, for a total of 100$ extra for the weekend.
Now here's where it all comes down to investigative work that i haven't fully substantiated:
From reading some other comments and reading into things, what happened was Tami (the owner) never received the extra money and never fully agreed to the contract being modified that way.
Dyne showed up with 2 fully grown dogs and just walked in without paying for the extra people. There's some supposed selfy that was posted of her in the bed with the two dogs on facebook that got removed.
After that, she was kicked out i guess for bringing in extras without having the owner agree to it. Hence in the screenshots of the ims, you'll see the owner indicate something about how this isn't BOGO.

The comments about not renting to asians because they think they can get away with anything was really stupid on Tami's part. She should have just said she never agreed to the extra people and they never paid for them nor was she informed about the 2 dogs.
On the other hand Dyne posted something along the lines of (and i quote) "Activists and law students get discriminated against too. Political beliefs are no shield. Tami probably would have thought a little harder before making those statements if she knew about my ACLU, NLG, BLM, etc background, but she didn’t. I did say I was a law student on my profile, though. Bad move on her part." which at least to me indicates being an activist and touting BLM crap is dumb.
 
Where are the screenshots of the previously modified agreement? Why did the renter need to send a text confirming the price if the price was previously already confirmed? Why does DFEH have control over people choosing to take money to allow people into their personal residences? :eek:

Why doesn't Tami get a fine for sending ALL CAPS messages to the property owner? Those look offensive to me.
 
Ocellaris said:
Where are the screenshots of the previously modified agreement? Why did the renter need to send a text confirming the price if the price was previously already confirmed? Why does DFEH have control over people choosing to take money to allow people into their personal residences? :eek:
Click to expand...
for more screenshots of ims (and might i add released by dyne and not all of the conversations she had) https://asamnews.com/2017/04/09/som...oubts-about-victim-in-racist-airbnb-incident/
As for DFEH? I assume because it's california and renting out a room/house is a business and falls under their jurisdiction.
 
Hypergreatthing said:
As for DFEH? I assume because it's california and renting out a room/house is a business and falls under their jurisdiction.
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There are these little things known as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 which all states I believe also enforce at the state level.
 
If there's one thing that'll change someone's heart on their feelings on race it's being forced to sit through a ethnic studies class.

Hopefully they skip over the Khmer Rouge and the Rape of Nanking....
 
Ur_Mom said:
Sounds like Suh did some shitty things as well. But, the response from the host was way over the top and not acceptable.
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The response wasn't just way over the top, it's illegal to discriminate by race publicly available accommodations which is what airbnb offers.
 
Ocellaris said:
Why does DFEH have control over people choosing to take money to allow people into their personal residences? :eek:
Click to expand...

Department of employment and fair housing has a stake in housing disputes. From the DEFH webpage "When based on the categories listed in the box “Who is Protected,” it is illegal to: Refuse to sell, rent, or lease rooms, apartments, condos or houses ..."


Ocellaris said:
Why doesn't Tami get a fine for sending ALL CAPS messages to the property owner? Those look offensive to me.
Click to expand...

Being a rude jackass in general is 100% legally ok (mostly); it's more of a problem when you're only doing bad things to certain groups, especially if you're providing a service to the public or otherwise in a position of power (employeer, educator, etc).
 
This all makes no sense. Why wait till the day of to cancel the reservation and then write dumb things. I suspect this is yet another racist troll who didn't realize that they were not on a forum/blog.
 
face2palm said:
My immediate thought when I've been wronged by someone is to make a selfie video and post it on social media. Oh wait, I'm not a crazy person.
Click to expand...

The only way this situation improved in the US was to make a fuss and bring it to the light of day, that was the MO point of the Civil Right Movement. And many people never liked that.
 
For those asking about the comment, who have not dealt with a lot of Asians, what she meant is that they are VERY demanding and often show up with things or requests never agreed to. As people who stay in hotels or any rental, Asians can actually be some of THE WORST, mostly if they are not natural Americans as the social set in many of their countries are that you do not clean a place when leaving, and that being messy is totally acceptable. Back in my teens I had a job cleaning resort cabins and NO ONE wanted the cabin that an Asian group was in, I also know people right now that do airbnb and one that has a full time bnb, they all agree on this point.

Not excusing the cancel just explaining the (probable) reason behind the comment, with that said however, when adding two people and pets, you don't just ask once about it and move on, and only bring it up again as you get getting to the location, you get that set before hand, everyone knows this. Which makes it look more like a setup or something that is common with Asians, that being last second or showing up with things not agreed to in hopes of saving money, making her comment, while maybe inappropriate, quite accurate.

Also, something should be clear, that is prejudice (or maybe bigotry), NOT racism. Not everything is racist and people need to learn that. She canceled because they broke the terms agreed to without ever confirming the changes. Her comment was about the very common prejudice idea of how Asians are, racism requires power, mostly in rules favoring one over the other, mostly with the idea ones own race is superior, which is not the case here.
 
Glad to see justice served to this racist prick. As an Asian\Caucasian Californian from the same area, I'd be beyond livid if my Asian wife and I got that same treatment.

That said, nothing Dyne did warranted a racist backlash like that... If I'm reading the transcripts correctly, she didn't surprise Tammy with 2 additional guests.. the two guests were known/agreed to well in advance. However I would be really frustrated as a host if she kept springing changes on me (e.g. pressing the issue of the dog, then adding ANOTHER dog). Originally the first dog was denied (the Yorkie) and she played the "well your ad said 'considered'" card, and kept pushing the issue after the host decided "no dogs." Well yeah, the host considered it, and said NO. That would have annoyed me at least... Somehow the host relented and agreed to the dog, then Dyne springs a SECOND dog weeks later? Again annoying, but doesn't deserve the racist reaction of course.
 
The BNB owner was unquestionably in the wrong, and deserved to be fined and to have it made clear that such behavior would not be tolerated if he wants to stay in business. But
heatlesssun said:
The response wasn't just way over the top, it's illegal to discriminate by race publicly available accommodations which is what airbnb offers.
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The business owner is an ass and the fine was completely appropriate, however even asshole business owners have constitutional rights. The government can and should level a fine that is appropriate to the offense, but in this case the offense is cancelling her reservation. Repeated violations justify more serious fines, or even forcing her out of business if she continues to discriminate. But under no circumstances is the government allowed to violate the constitution and do something like compel speech. In other words they can punish the asshole, but they can't force her to apologize. They might be able to force her to take some kind of class on how to not violate the fair housing act, but it's pretty unlikely they can force her to take a college class on Asian Studies. Maybe Kish should be the one taking some classes and learn how the Constitution limits what the government is allowed to do.
It seems likely that Tami Barker now has grounds for a civil rights lawsuit against the state of California because their response to her violating Dyne Suh's fair housing rights was to violate her rights in turn.
 
BlueFireIce said:
For those asking about the comment, who have not dealt with a lot of Asians, what she meant is that they are VERY demanding and often show up with things or requests never agreed to. As people who stay in hotels or any rental, Asians can actually be some of THE WORST, mostly if they are not natural Americans as the social set in many of their countries are that you do not clean a place when leaving, and that being messy is totally acceptable. Back in my teens I had a job cleaning resort cabins and NO ONE wanted the cabin that an Asian group was in, I also know people right now that do airbnb and one that has a full time bnb, they all agree on this point.

Not excusing the cancel just explaining the (probable) reason behind the comment, with that said however, when adding two people and pets, you don't just ask once about it and move on, and only bring it up again as you get getting to the location, you get that set before hand, everyone knows this. Which makes it look more like a setup or something that is common with Asians, that being last second or showing up with things not agreed to in hopes of saving money, making her comment, while maybe inappropriate, quite accurate.

Also, something should be clear, that is prejudice (or maybe bigotry), NOT racism. Not everything is racist and people need to learn that. She canceled because they broke the terms agreed to without ever confirming the changes. Her comment was about the very common prejudice idea of how Asians are, racism requires power, mostly in rules favoring one over the other, mostly with the idea ones own race is superior, which is not the case here.
Click to expand...

I think the Airbnb owner has power over others, in choosing to rent or not rent her property. Since she (according to her text anyway) made this decision based on race, then it's textbook racism.
 
That's a bitch move to text the cancellation minutes before they arrive. It's a pain in the ass driving to Big Bear man.
 
SPARTAN VI said:
Glad to see justice served to this racist prick. As an Asian\Caucasian Californian from the same area, I'd be beyond livid if my Asian wife and I got that same treatment.

That said, nothing Dyne did warranted a racist backlash like that... If I'm reading the transcripts correctly, she didn't surprise Tammy with 2 additional guests.. the two guests were known/agreed to well in advance. However I would be really frustrated as a host if she kept springing changes on me (e.g. pressing the issue of the dog, then adding ANOTHER dog). Originally the first dog was denied (the Yorkie) and she played the "well your ad said 'considered'" angle, and kept pushing the issue after the host decided "no dogs." Somehow the host relented and agreed to the dog, then Dyne springs a SECOND dog weeks later? That would annoy me, but doesn't deserve the racist reaction of course.
Click to expand...

Ohhh sure you people always stick together....

/s.....I don't have time for ethnic studies classes
 
Flatrock19 said:
The BNB owner was unquestionably in the wrong, and deserved to be fined and to have it made clear that such behavior would not be tolerated if he wants to stay in business. But


The business owner is an ass and the fine was completely appropriate, however even asshole business owners have constitutional rights. The government can and should level a fine that is appropriate to the offense, but in this case the offense is cancelling her reservation. Repeated violations justify more serious fines, or even forcing her out of business if she continues to discriminate. But under no circumstances is the government allowed to violate the constitution and do something like compel speech. In other words they can punish the asshole, but they can't force her to apologize. They might be able to force her to take some kind of class on how to not violate the fair housing act, but it's pretty unlikely they can force her to take a college class on Asian Studies. Maybe Kish should be the one taking some classes and learn how the Constitution limits what the government is allowed to do.
It seems likely that Tami Barker now has grounds for a civil rights lawsuit against the state of California because their response to her violating Dyne Suh's fair housing rights was to violate her rights in turn.
Click to expand...

This was an agreement reached between Ms. Barker and the CA Dept of Fair Employment & Housing. Ms. Barker agreed to this rather than try it in court. So she'd have no case for a civil suit.
 
Hypergreatthing said:
Is this the case where the person who wanted to rent for a weekend decided to spring on the owner that a 1 person room had a slight change and she was bringing 2 friends and her dog (and then another dog) with her to stay the weekend?
I thought that's where the argument started and led down to "muh racism" after the agreements of staying over with massive modifications from the original deal.
Click to expand...

tec1500 said:
Is that the race baiting SJW woman that wanted to change the terms of their agreement before she got to the cabin? Or am I thinking of someone else?
Click to expand...

shad0w4life said:
There's way more to this story than this nonsense.

Dyne Suh, texted last minute saying Hey we have 2 dogs and 2 extra people, she did not get confirmation prior to this, she has shown ZERO proof but tried to screw over the airbnb host.

pretty sure the host knew she was asian prior along with her photo, and RIGHT after she was told this horrific news she ran into a news agency? Not to mention that she's a huge SJW that supports the BLM terrorist group.

So chances are way more than meets the eye.
No idea wtf the airbnb host was saying with the Asian remark, that's just idiotic
Click to expand...

I think all the talk about race baiting, SJWs, etc. is misplaced. As far as I can tell, this fine was issued by a California state agency that undertook an investigation. The agency even says that they only accept cases where they believe the civil rights laws they enforce may have been broken; they reserve the right to dismiss complaints.

https://www.dfeh.ca.gov/complaint-process/

Now, you can say that this is California, it's too liberal of a state, whatever, but this went through a process following state law. So it seems disingenuous to try to claim that there is "more to this story" or that it's just "race baiting."
 
Flatrock19 said:
The BNB owner was unquestionably in the wrong, and deserved to be fined and to have it made clear that such behavior would not be tolerated if he wants to stay in business. But


The business owner is an ass and the fine was completely appropriate, however even asshole business owners have constitutional rights. The government can and should level a fine that is appropriate to the offense, but in this case the offense is cancelling her reservation. Repeated violations justify more serious fines, or even forcing her out of business if she continues to discriminate. But under no circumstances is the government allowed to violate the constitution and do something like compel speech. In other words they can punish the asshole, but they can't force her to apologize. They might be able to force her to take some kind of class on how to not violate the fair housing act, but it's pretty unlikely they can force her to take a college class on Asian Studies. Maybe Kish should be the one taking some classes and learn how the Constitution limits what the government is allowed to do.
It seems likely that Tami Barker now has grounds for a civil rights lawsuit against the state of California because their response to her violating Dyne Suh's fair housing rights was to violate her rights in turn.
Click to expand...
I didn't read too much into the ruling or whatever, but is that what the court said or what she agreed to in a plea bargain?
 
Flatrock19 said:
The government can and should level a fine that is appropriate to the offense, but in this case the offense is cancelling her reservation.
Click to expand...

If the quote of the text message is accurate that's pretty much a breach of Title II of the CRA of 1964. Denying publicly available accommodation on race. That's EXACTLY what the text message says. Period.
 
BlueFireIce said:
For those asking about the comment, who have not dealt with a lot of Asians, what she meant is that they are VERY demanding and often show up with things or requests never agreed to. As people who stay in hotels or any rental, Asians can actually be some of THE WORST, mostly if they are not natural Americans as the social set in many of their countries are that you do not clean a place when leaving, and that being messy is totally acceptable. Back in my teens I had a job cleaning resort cabins and NO ONE wanted the cabin that an Asian group was in, I also know people right now that do airbnb and one that has a full time bnb, they all agree on this point.
Click to expand...

That's the opposite in my experience. My Asian family (most of which are immigrants) keep our living areas immaculate, rented or otherwise. It's burned into our routine to remove our shoes regardless of the dwelling, to never let dishes sit, and basically not leave a slug trail of where you've been. In fact, it was totally foreign to them that we live with our dog inside the home... dogs are filthy and belong outside, to them. Granted my Asian family tends to cook the stinkiest food known, I wouldn't hold it against you if you didn't want to be in that room during/after they cook. That's not to say my Caucasian family and friends are slobs, they're just not nearly as regimented.

Background: my mother is Thai and my father is Caucasian. My mother and her family moved here in the 70s, but my father and his family are naturally born Americans going back several generations.
 
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