Dyne Suh, the alleged victim of discrimination by an Airbnb host, has recently filed a complaint with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing.
The case involved a Trump-supporting host who canceled the reservation of the Asian American woman at the last minute back in April, allegedly, because of her race. The widely publicized incident is currently being investigated by local authorities, according to AsAmNews.
Minutes before the arrival of Suh’s group to the reservation site in the San Bernardino Mountains, she received a message from the host saying, “I wouldn’t rent to you if you were the last person on earth. One word says it all. Asian.”
“I am cooperating with an investigation into the incident by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing,” said Suh, who is a recent UCLA School of Law graduate.
“They reached out to me and I wanted to help them enforce anti-discrimination laws in California. I think it is important to send the message that racism will not be tolerated in California and that it will be taken seriously by the government. Because racism is so hard to prove, most people seem to get away with racist actions. Here, we have a smoking gun.”
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Suh had earlier filed a complaint with Airbnb, resulting in the permanent removal of the host from the program. The short-term lodging provider called the incident “abhorrent and unacceptable.”
The name of the Airbnb host in question has not been officially revealed for privacy.
The video of Suh’s account of the incident has been widely shared on social media, causing a massive uproar in the Asian American community.
From the video, and the numerous screenshots of the conversation that were earlier released, it was apparent that there were some disagreements between Suh and the host about bringing along pets and additional guests.
However, there were those who remained skeptical about Suh’s claim, noting that there was probably more to the story that Suh has not revealed. Some expressed that Suh may have done something to cause the host to suddenly cancel the reservation.
Earlier this month, Suh released a full transcript of the messages on her Facebook page to give a much clearer picture of the whole incident:
