Did I ever tell you all about the time I was accused of racism before the city government?
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| Me, apparently? |
It all happened some years back. In those days I was trying to get into real estate heavily. I made a few deals, some profitable, some not so. One of the better deals I landed was a house in a VERY desirable area at just the right price point. It was an area with one of the best school districts, very desirable area favorable for commuting to downtown. PERFECT! As soon as I had it prepped to lease option, I started getting a LOT of interest.
I mean a LOT of interest.
Of many people who came though to see the house was an African American woman. She liked the house and wanted to submit an application. I received her application a day later... but there were some problems.
In my application docs I stated clearly that applicants must have full down payment and no evictions within the last several years to be approved. Well, this lady wrote that she didn't have the down payment, but wanted to work it out in payments. Also, and this was the kicker, she actually DID have an eviction on her record in just the last year. Just one of those was enough to invalidate the application, but she had both strikes.
Anyway, like I said, I had a lot of interest and I think it was two days after that that I got the winning app: the family had the full down payment and a great renting background. I signed them up and they moved it.
Fast forward two weeks and I get a large document package in the mail from my city's housing authority. They were writing to tell me that I had been officially accused of racial discrimination in housing by refusing to rent a property to the woman I mentioned above. The lady had actually called in to the office and told them, DIRECTLY, that I refused to rent the house to her because she was black.
At first I thought there had to be some mistake. I took the case number, called the office and asked what this was all about. Nope, it was no mistake. This lady officially opened a complaint of racist housing practices with the government. I was totally shocked.
I asked the lady at the office I spoke with what proof this woman had given that I had racially discriminated against her, as I didn't see anything referenced in the documents they had sent. She told me that opening a complaint required no evidentiary support for her claim, that was only needed if the case went to a full trial. She continued that I could of course deny the claim, but i would need to provide conclusive evidence that I had NOT racially discriminated in order to have the case closed.
Now, just think about that for a sec. You don't need to provide ANY evidence of any kind to accuse someone, but the ACCUSED must provide conclusive proof that he DIDN'T do the crime. That's official FUCKING POLICY. I was beyond incensed. I don't think I've ever been that angry before or since then.
Well, after that conversation I took the official's advice and contacted an attorney. I would have done so anyway, as if you try to fight a legal battle with a government and represent yourself you're just ASKING to be screwed.
So, $700 in attorney fees later (which I could barely afford) my attorney sent an official response, along with copies of my correspondence, the docs I include with the application, the application itself, my reasons for rejecting the application, EVERYTHING. My attorney laid out the data quite well. I thought that was going to be the end of it.
LOLOLOL!!! Yeah, it wasn't. You see, after getting all this the rep called the woman back and laid out everything. The woman's response, thought, was to lie. She told the rep that I already KNEW about all these issues on her application, and her not having the down payment, and that I had told her they were not a big deal and we could work around it. Yes, that's what she told the rep, and the rep forwarded to me. I of course denied that and again got very angry and wanted to know what evidence the woman had given her that I said I would overlook all those issues. The rep told me she hadn't given any, and wasn't required to do so, as this wasn't a trial. But because of her response, the case couldn't be closed.
The accuser, who accused me with NO evidence to back it up, was able to bat aside the mountain of evidence I provided (that I shouldn't have had to provide in the first place) that showed my innocence, merely by making up a completely baseless lie.
Seriously, stop reading now and just think about that for a second.
Done? OK, let's continue.
So, after that I called my attorney again (and spent several hundred more dollars, because nothing with attorneys is free). He recommended I reach out to the people I rented the house to and get them to assist. I REALLY didn't want to do that, because this is NOT their problem and it shouldn't involve them in any way. But, short of spending a LOT more money prepping for a trial, I didn't have much of a choice. So I reached out to the family I rented to. When I spoke to the husband, a very pleasant air force vet who worked with troubled inner city kids (that sounds like a Lifetime movie character, I know, but I swear that's what he actually did) he immediately agreed to help. In fact, he got kind of angry when I told him what was happening as well. So I gave his number to the rep and she reached out.
I called back two days later and spoke to the rep and she informed me she closed the case. Interestingly, now that there was no longer an official complaint against me, she was rather talkative. She told me that after she informed the lady that, based on her latest findings, there was no way the city could continue the complaint. The lady then claimed... Well, let me just quote the city rep from memory. No it's not verbatim, but it's close:
"Then she said, 'well, he musta turned me down because I'm a single mother then.' And I told her 'Sorry ma'am, that's not a protected class.'"
You may find that unbelievable, but I swear to you it's the truth. That's what she told me. It floored me to be honest.
She also told me that just based on the package I had originally sent her, had the situation gone to trial, the complaint would have been thrown out almost at once. In fact, lots of these complaints end up just like this, with the complaining party withdrawing their complaint as the date for trial gets close.
After all this, I asked the rep what I could do to recoup my losses in this. Her answer: nothing. Yes, you read that right, I could do NOTHING. In fact, the law directly PROHIBITS people from going after even demonstrably FALSE claims such as these (and the rep agreed, it was an obviously false claim). Now, if it had actually gone to trial, there was a slim possibility that the law would allow me to try to recoup, but as mentioned above, the accuser wasn't going to let it go to trial anyway.
But, you may be thinking, it all ended well! Truth prevailed! Why are you upset? Well, for starters, I had slightly over 1,000 reasons to be upset, counted in US dollars to my attorney, tot to mention sleepless night worrying about losing my business and savings in a case of slander and having my good name destroyed. What did the accuser lose? About 20 minutes total in time on the phone. That's it. So no, fuck you, the 'kids aren't alright'.
I suffered REAL LOSSES all because this lying, narcissistic bitch was angry that she didn't get what she wanted and wanted revenge for it. And the government assisted her, and PROTECTED HER so she could KNOWINGLY do it because, as I detailed above, there is no way she could be 'mistaken' about why she was turned down.
So, there ends the story.
Why do I bring this up now? Because our culture has this problem, and encourages it. Specifically with this bullshit of 'We believe victims!'. The correct attitude to have should be 'We believe victims, if there is an actual reason and evidence given to support their claim.' Too many people reflexivly accept the first while thinking the second is 'too harsh'. This is because they are emotional geldings, easy marks with no spine or use of reason, who abandon all logical thinking the moment they hear a wavering voice or see the glisten of a tear. They rush automatically, and stupidly, unthinkingly, to the defense, just like Kirk in that old episode 'Elaan of Troyius'.
"But it's not a TRIAL (yet), we don't NEED evidence!" Thing is, you can destroy people, ruin them, drive them out of business, without even going to trial, especially if you have media support.
It may seem harsh. It may offend the delicate sensibilities of any 'White Knights' reading this, but you must demand evidence of things, not be slaved to your emotions. Act like men, not like characters in an Oxygen channel movie.
P.S. Almost forgot. The reason asking the people I rented the house to ended the complaint? They were an African American family. Had I not been able to do that, I honestly don't know if I could have financially survived all the costs with prepping for a court battle with the city, a battle which, like all the other times I've heard of, ends up getting canceled by the accuser, but not before you shell out all the cash to prep.
Holy smokes. Thank you for telling the story
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