Landlord posts "whites only" sign at pool

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A state civil rights commission is weighing whether to reconsider its decision that a Cincinnati landlord discriminated against a black girl by posting a “White Only” sign at a swimming pool.

The Ohio Civil Rights Commission found on Sept. 29 that Jamie Hein, who’s white, violated the Ohio Civil Rights Act by posting the sign at a pool at the duplex where the teenage girl was visiting her parents.

Commissioners were scheduled to hear Hein’s request for reconsideration at a meeting Thursday in Columbus and were expected to rule immediately afterward.

The parents filed a discrimination charge with the commission and moved out of the duplex in the racially diverse city to “avoid subjecting their family to further humiliating treatment,” the commission said in a release announcing its finding.

An investigation revealed that Hein in May posted on the gated entrance to the pool an iron sign that stated “Public Swimming Pool, White Only,” the commission statement said.

Several witnesses confirmed that the sign was posted, and the landlord indicated that she posted it because the girl used in her hair chemicals that would make the pool “cloudy,” according to the commission.

Hein has repeatedly declined comment. A message was left at her lawyer’s office Wednesday.

“I was trying to protect my assets,” she told the commission’s housing enforcement director in a Sept. 27 interview.

The commission’s statement said that its investigation concluded that the posting of such a sign “restricts the social interaction between Caucasians and African-Americans and reinforces discriminatory actions aimed at oppressing people of color.”

If the commissioners uphold their original finding, the case would be referred to the Ohio attorney general’s office, which would represent the commission’s findings before an administrative law judge.

Penalties in the case could include a cease-and-desist order and even punitive damages, but the administrative law judge would determine any penalties.

It still would be possible for the parties to reach a settlement before resorting to legal action.

Any decision by the administrative judge could be appealed to Hamilton County Common Pleas Court in Cincinnati.

What a horrid woman.

Just when you thought you had heard everything. Unreal.

This is just sick. So many years later and still this discrimination. It's ludicrous.

Racism is not only alive & well it's breeding like cockroaches

Wait. You mean this isn't from The Onion?

Alan Smithee wrote:Wait. You mean this isn't from The Onion?

Unfortunately no, it's not.

Not to hi-jack this thread but you're really hooked LOL!

racism sometimes is ingrained so deeply that people do not even realize that it is racism anymore.

I took a sociology course that discussed the demographics of our county.. and how it evolved socially over the 20th century. there was a bar/restaurant that in the early half of the century, literally had a dividing line where whites sat on the right side of the U shaped bar, and blacks on the left. A sociologist went back to the same bar over 30 yrs and took pictures... even decades AFTER the diving line was painted over, people STILL sat segregated in the bar. When he conducted interviews to ask why they sat segregated, most said, "that is my normal seat" or "i really didnt notice". Twas interesting.

Same thing in New Orleans which was segregated until forced otherwise.

There was a PoBoy shop in the French Market where I was working in 1973 that in segregation days had a big dining area in front for whites and a more cramped smaller one in back for blacks.

Whenever I went there for lunch with my black co-workers they still went to the small area in back. Suppose I was integrating it like some freedom rider or something.

Shocking that in his day and age anyone would do such a thing.

Alan Smithee wrote:Not to hi-jack this thread but you're really hooked LOL!

I know! lol

Hair chemicals? So I take it none of the white tenants use any kind of hair products themselves that could cloudy up this woman's pool water. She should face severe fines for that stunt.

Shame

The sight of mixed crowds actually having a nice time interacting with each other is a scary thought for some people.