Are we living in segregated-era Alabama? Ohio landlord Jamie Hein is.
Hein is accused of discriminating against a black girl with an antique “White Only” sign at her swimming pool.
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Hein of Cincinnati told ABC News:
“I’m not a bad person. I don’t have any problem with race at all. It’s a historical sign.”
The sign reads “Public Swimming Pool, White Only” and is from 1931.
Hein said she collects antiques and was given the sign as a gift. She also said that even though the sign seems to indicate that the pool is public, the pool is on her private property and “everybody has to ask before getting in my pool.”
Michael Gunn, 40, is the man who took issue with Hein’s sign and filed a discrimination charge with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission. He was a tenant in one of Hein’s properties.
Gunn wrote in his complaint:
“We invited my daughter, who is African-American, to visit and swim in the pool for the Memorial Day weekend. The owner, Jamie Hein, accused my daughter of making the pool ‘cloudy’ because she used chemicals in her hair. Days later, she posted a sign on the gate to the pool which reads, ‘Public Swimming Pool, White Only.’”
Hein has denied that she put the sign up after Gunn’s daughter left the pool. The Ohio Civil Rights Commission found on Sept. 29 that Hein did violate the Ohio Civil Rights Act by posting the sign, but Hein has asked that the decision be reconsidered. The sign has since been stolen.
The commission will meet to come to a final decision on Jan. 12, according to Brandi Martin, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Civil Rights Commission.
Should Hein be allowed to hang her sign on her private property?
