This is an astonishing tale. A minimum wage typist mishears a caller to a free advertising paper. An advert is placed for a ‘White person. No DSS.’ rather than a ‘Quiet person. No DSS.’ The accidental racist is subjected to an astonishing level of hatred and vitriol - including death threats - from, presumably, anti-racists.
Sound like charming people…
‘Have you ever fucked a black man?’ One girl compares her to the criminal landlord Nicholas Hoogstraten. Mary’s never heard of him. She thinks he’s maybe a pop singer. Few give her the chance to explain that it’s all a mistake. She understands why people are angry. She doesn’t comprehend why the Friday-Ad would think it’s OK to put ‘white person’ anyway. She has lived abroad herself, spending years in India and Iraq, and sponsors a child in Zimbabwe.
But it’s the threats of violence that really scare her. ‘Don’t worry,’ says one person. ‘I’ll find you.’
The calls continue until late at night when - now terrified - she turns off the phone. She doesn’t sleep, thinking about the man who now has the flat’s number. What if he went round and attacked the girl there by mistake?
…Mary worries she’ll never be able to rent her flat. She’s too scared to advertise it again in case one of the people who threatened her turn up. What if a racist applies?
So what do we make of this? The triumph of anti-racism campaigns? “Racists” really are societies worst monsters now (along with other popular menaces). What if this woman did want a white tenant and was just being honest? Would she deserve to be killed? Hurt? Arrested ( this for of discrimination is a criminal offence in the UK)?
I wonder if this club will be targeted by a similar hate campaign for refusing a patron because he was white?
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