Online personality Jonathan Moss typically cracks jokes, but this time he used his social media platform to expose rental discrimination in Scottsdale, Arizona.
It’s illegal, but one Arizona landlord, whom Moss did not name, turned away his rental application allegedly based on the color of his skin.
In a viral TikTok video, the comedian and content creator (who goes by “johnmosslol” online) told viewers he sent the application via email and regular mail to cover all the bases. His email profile included his photo.
Moss then waited three long months with no response, during which he followed up about the rental several times. Suspecting there wasn’t a legitimate reason for the silence, the Las Vegas resident conducted an “experiment” to determine if he was being intentionally ignored.
“This is Brian,” he said in the TikTok video, pointing to a photo of a white man named Brian Davies. “Brian is going to be used for this experiment.”
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“Ok, being that these individuals did not message me back and I have sent multiple emails [in June], let’s see how long it will take for them to reply to an email from Brian.” Brian appeared to have similar facial hair to Moss in the photo, which was a bathroom selfie, no less.
Within an hour, Brian was given the green light for the apartment and was told he could move in “right away.”
“They replied damn near immediately,” said the shocked but perhaps not surprised comedian. “Now they’re asking for an ID and bank statements.”
The National Bureau of Economic Research found “rampant” racial discrimination in U.S. rental markets, according to a 2021 study cited by Vox. Using a bot and fictitious applicants, researchers discovered that property managers with available rentals were less likely to respond to inquiries from people with Black and Hispanic-sounding names.
The study then took it one step further by examining real-world outcomes. The results revealed that a non-response from a potential landlord “lowers the probability that a renter of color will ultimately inhabit a given property by 17.3 percent.”
At the time, the groundbreaking report was the “first available evidence on the relationship between disparate treatment and subsequent rental housing outcomes.” However, many in the Black community do not need a report to understand this.
Moss’ own experiment was inspired by an exchange he had on Facebook with the real Brian Davies, who challenged the very idea that housing and employment discrimination existed.
“Show me where I can get hired, but you can’t. Show me where I can live, but you can’t,” he wrote in a comment to Moss. “You can’t do it because it’s not true, the only thing stopping you or setting you back is yourself. It’s that simple.”
For many, waiting one hour versus three months was all the evidence needed.
“It’s called institutional racism,” wrote one TikTok user. Another lamented, “I hate that an experiment was needed to prove what we all knew.”
Great Job Grace Jidoun & the Team @ Atlanta Black Star Source link for sharing this story.
