The saying what goes around comes around, holds true, more in the case of an Airbnb host who is now paying the price for canceling a reservation by sending a racist text. The incident took place in February, when California based resident Tami Barker canceled the reservation for Dyne Suh, a 26-year-old law clerk. Suh had booked the cabin for a weekend to go skiing with her fiancé. After a four-hour drive to the cabin, Barker canceled the reservation last minute by sending a racist message to Suh. However, thanks to the internal investigation conducted by AirBnB, Tami has been banned from renting her cabin on the platform and has to pay $5,000 as fine for her racial discrimination.
Racist comment lands Airbnb host into trouble
According to reports Barker send Suh a series of text to inform her that the reservation has been canceled. She texted that she would not rent her cabin even if Suh was “the last person on earth” and explained her action by stating “One word says it all. Asian”. Following this conversation, when Dyne alerted Tami that she would complain to Airbnb about the racist message, the latter got downright political and replied she would not be dictated by foreigners. Suh later filed complaints to both the DFEH and Airbnb on the basis of racial discrimination.
Airbnb host pays the price
Airbnb spokesman Nick Papas condemned the actions of Barker and stated that the behavior was unacceptable.
He stated that the company has worked to give full support to Dyne, keeping in line with the organization’s non-discrimination policy and banned Barker from the platform permanently. In addition to that, Tami has been asked to shell out $5,000 as damages. Apart from that as stated by the DFEH, she will also be required to take a course which is college level in Asian American studies.
She also has to apologize to Suh per anti-discrimination laws. Moreover, she would also have to participate in a community education panel and also volunteer for a civil rights organization.
DFEH’s director Kevin Kish shared with The Guardian that the organization is trying to give out unique punishments for this incident as the law focuses more on compensation for the harm caused and not transforming the accused and their thinking.
Kish further stated that the universe cannot be divided clearly into bad and good people. People may have prejudices, but they also have the ability to change, which is what DFEH is trying to do with Barker.
