Posted: April 14th, 2022

Linguistic Injustice: The Effect Of Racial Profiling On Access To Affordable Housing

Kylie Myn

LING 472

Injustice Outline

Introduction

The injustice that I have chosen to investigate about is the effect of racial profiling on access to affordable housing. Systemic and institutionalized racism is deeply embedded in the culture of the United States as well as in other parts of the world. When using accents that are “non-standard” or different from standard American English during enquiry of property for rent, the property would become unavailable for no apparent reason. This is due to property owners recognizing features of certain languages and then associating them with negative racial stereotypes.

I chose this linguistic injustice because I know people around me who have experienced this, despite it being illegal. I think that this is unfair to those who do not speak standard American English, most of them being people of color, especially African Americans. Good housing equates to a better quality of life, and in this case housing discrimination limits people of color from having access to stable and decent housing.

Intervention

There have been laws implemented at a federal level by the United States Department of Housing and Development (HUD) such as The Fair Housing Act in 1968, that prohibit discrimination for people who are looking for home seekers. The success of this act was that it managed to reduce segregation to a certain extent. Despite this, marginalized communities still continue to experience racial bias and discrimination in a subtle manner. One of the roadblocks for this is the regulatory changes that have been made during Trump’s administration, one of them being rule that makes it more difficult for individuals to file a complaint about housing discrimination citing “disparate impact”(Investopedia, 2022). Action has to be taken to promote further racial integration, as it was not achieved by the Fair Housing Act. One of the ways to address this issue is to have a Community Land Trust (CLT) to provide affordable housing to those in need of it.

References

Glover, J. (2021, February 12). Black California couple lowballed by $500k in home appraisal, believe race was a factor. ABC7 San Francisco. Retrieved March 21, 2022, from https://abc7news.com/black-homeowner-problems-sf-bay-area-housing-discrimination-minority-homeownership-anti-black-policy/10331076/

President, J. C. I. V., Cusick, J., President, I. V., Hananel Director, S., Hananel, S., Director, Manager, L. O. S., Oduyeru, L., Manager, S., Gordon Director, P., Gordon, P., Shepherd Director, M., Shepherd, M., Director, J. P. D., Parshall, J., Director, D., Weller, C. E., III, S. F., Valenti, J., … Ndumele, N. L. (2016, December 20). Racial disparities in home appreciation. Center for American Progress. Retrieved March 21, 2022, from https://www.americanprogress.org/article/racial-disparities-home-appreciation/

Subtle forms of discrimination still exist for minority Homeseekers: HUD user. Subtle Forms of Discrimination Still Exist for Minority Homeseekers | HUD USER. (n.d.). Retrieved March 21, 2022, from https://www.huduser.gov/portal/pdredge/pdr_edge_research_062813.html

McQueen, M. P. (2022, March 11). Housing discrimination: What is it and what can you do about it? Investopedia. Retrieved March 21, 2022, from https://www.investopedia.com/housing-discrimination-what-can-you-do-5074478

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Myn, Kylie

472 LING

Outline of Injustice

Introduction

The injustice I’ve chosen to look into is the impact of racial profiling on access to affordable housing. Racism, both systemic and institutionalized, is deeply embedded in the culture of the United States and other parts of the world. When using “non-standard” or different from standard American English accents when enquiring about a property for rent, the property becomes unavailable for no apparent reason. This is due to property owners recognizing characteristics of specific languages and associating them with negative racial stereotypes.

I chose this linguistic injustice because I know people who have experienced it, despite the fact that it is illegal. This, in my opinion, is unfair to those who do.

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