Properly Subversive/Sherman R. Frederick
According to the newest navel gazing study on racism in Marin, landlords discriminate against applicants by favoring people with white names over Black names.
I’m not kidding. This is an actual study courtesy of the Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California.
The outfit checked out the Marin market by applying online, using a prospective renter with a Black name and an equally qualified renter with a white name.
Guess which applicant did better – “Darius” or “Hunter”?
Ding, ding, ding! You win..
The fair housing non-profit said they found “clear evidence” of racial discrimination in about 17% of the tests done in Marin.
But wait, there’s more!
In Sonoma County, 33% of the “Darious/Hunter” litmus test came back showing “clear evidence” of racial discrimination.
So Sonoma is really, really racist and Marin is only sort of racist. Woo-hoo! Somebody come up with a t-shirt.
In all seriousness, if there is “clear evidence” of discrimination and racial descrimination is illegal (which it is), why aren’t a whole lot of landlords in Marin and Sonoma counties in jail?
NEVERMIND?
Let me preface this by saying that I like Marin DA Lori Frugoli. She’s made a lot of measured calls on sticky issues in Marin, especially on free speech. But this latest case is a head scratcher.
After charging longtime Novatoan William Thomas Bradley, founder of the contracting company W. Bradley Electric, with attempted murder, Frugoli dropped the case just as it was going to trial.
I won’t summarize the case. I’ll only say that it’s complicated and a little odd.
Here’s the burr under my saddle:
The state charged this man with attempted murder. The charge hung over this man’s head for 5 years and then, just as the case is headed to trial, the DA reverses herself like a real life parody of Saturday Night Live’s Emily Litella and says … “nevermind?”
What gives, Madam DA?
WHAT I’M WATCHING
I found the time to catch the 2012 documentary called “The Waiting Room,” a film by Peter Nicks that chronicles the waiting room at Highland Hospital, a safety-net hospital in Oakland. It’s a fascinating watch that will remind you that while healthcare for the poor remains a heartbreaking situation in the Bay Area, there are many, many angels in the system doing an impossible job. Catch this flick when you can.
ONE MORE THING
– The Sturgeon General reminds you that smoked fish could be hazardous to your health.
– After pricking my finger doing early morning yard work, I said to myself: “That’s enough for today. Thistle dew.”
– Yesterday I met a girl selling batteries in the park. That’s right, she sells C cells down by the seesaw.
Sorry in advance for those puns. I’ll work to up my game. Until next week, avoid soreheads, laugh a little and always – always! – question authority.
(“Properly Subversive” is commentary written by Sherman R. Frederick for Marinscope Community Newspapers, the “mother ship” of the Novato Advance, San Rafael News-Pointer, Mill Valley Herald, Ross Valley Reporter, Twin City Times and the Sausalito Marin Scope. Mr. Frederick is an award-winning journalist and co-founder of Battle Born Media, a news organization dedicated to the preservation of community newspapers. You can reach him by email at shermfrederick@gmail.com.)
Leave a Reply