Racist Ohio landlord wants commission to reconsider ruling on ‘white only’ sign
cnn.com
Landlord says she’s not racist, that the sign is just “historical”
This is just plain evil - the landlord is directing this sign at a 10 year old biracial girl. I’m very pleased with the court’s verdict.
The case was brought by Michael Gunn, a white man who said had unrestricted access to the pool area for himself and his guests during the nearly two years he lived in the duplex, he said in a December interview.
Gunn, a software engineer, said he and his girlfriend, who is also white, lived upstairs; their 31-year-old landlord lived downstairs. However, he said their relationship soured in May 2011 when he invited his 10-year-old biracial daughter to visit and swim in the pool.
“Complainant states that the owner, Jamie Hein, accused his daughter of making the pool ‘cloudy’ because she used chemicals in her hair,” the commission said in its summary. “Days later, the owner posted a sign on the gate to the pool which read, ‘Public Swimming Pool, White Only.’”
Hein said she received the sign from a friend and posted it in early May, the summary says. Several people interviewed by the commission staff confirmed that they had seen the sign, it added.
Hein did not respond to a request for comment at the time. But she told ABC News in December that she collects antiques. She said the sign, which was dated 1931 and from Alabama, was a gift from a friend.
“I don’t have any problem with race at all. It’s a historical sign,” she told ABC.
Gunn said he was outraged by the sign and made arrangements to find another place to live as soon as he could.
