Racism in the Region

[ac3r]

They shouldn't be allowed but they can't exactly police that. Even if it were illegal, nothing is stopping them from just quietly saying no to anyone not from India. And it isn't just roommates...there are landlords out there that only want Indian people living there.

It's not an uncommon thing for people of certain nationalities or "races" to group together anyway, which is why we see it. Chinese people more often than not build their relationships with other Chinese people. Arabs do the same. In the 90s during the Yugoslav Wars, those fleeing the war and immigrating here kept to their own groups. The same is true for new Indians coming here (Croats, Serbs etc). It usually isn't until later generations you see them associate with broader groups of people because by then they're Canadians first and foremost. Of course the bigoted Canadians out there who see these ads will use it as ammunition to hate on Indians, so unfortunately we're going to see a lot of that. And for a long time...with the Trudeau government opening the doors to the world for some fucking reason even though we cannot handle millions of people moving here, it's going to create a lot of animosity in people because our lives here are pretty awful so Indians, Arabs, Ukrainians etc will be an easy scapegoat.

[ijmorlan]

Do you think people should be allowed to discriminate who they room with based on race? Or am I just crazy here?

As ac3r says, it can’t really be policed. It’s too close to thoughtcrime anyway, even if the thoughts actually are antisocial.

On the other hand, at least in principle rental platforms could refuse listings that have racist requirements; on yet another hand, it would be difficult even in principle to draw the line. For example, I think that a requirement that the kitchen remain kosher or halal would be a perfectly reasonable requirement, in a way that it would not be for a typical apartment rental situation (as opposed to housemate).

It might be best to leave this unregulated, and monitor the rental ads statistically as one measure of racism in society. Also, if I were looking for a room, I (as a white guy) might steer clear of somebody who says “no muslims” (for example). I don’t want to live with the kind of person who would put that in a rental ad.

[ac3r]

Even if you couldn't include that sort of stuff in listings, there are still slumlords who will decline anyone who doesn't match who they want. The moment they heard an accent (or lack-thereof) or just read a name in an e-mail, they could just pass over the applicant. It's not much different than a racist manager denying anyone who isn't, say, white or Asian from being hired. All they have to do is say "thanks, we'll contact you in the near future if we feel you're a good fit!" but then never contact them.

This sort of thing isn't new, sadly. It's "silent" prejudicsm.