Airbnb Goes Full-on Woke
Tilghman Howard, American Renaissance, June 4, 2020
On June 1, the rental website Airbnb sent out a long, excruciating statement to participants. The cover letter begins with this:
As we work to process the tragic deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others, we wanted to send a message to you directly. To hosts and guests who are hurting, angry, and scared, we want you to know that Airbnb stands with you.
Discrimination is the greatest threat to a community built on belonging and acceptance. It cuts to the core of who we are and what we believe in. Airbnb stands with Black Lives Matter, and we reject racism, bigotry, and hate.
It goes on:
We can’t talk about recent events without also acknowledging the painful truth that some hosts and guests still experience discrimination, something that is the very opposite of our mission to create belonging. In 2016, Airbnb launched our nondiscrimination policy and community commitment, and over 1.3 million people who declined the pledge have been removed from our platform. We still have work to do, and we’re continuing to take action on our commitment to fighting discrimination.
One way we’re doing that is by donating a total of $500,000 to the NAACP and the Black Lives Matter foundation in support of their fight for equality and justice, in addition to matching donations to both groups made from all of our employees. Another is sharing an Activism and Allyship guide that our Black employee resource group, Black@Airbnb, prepared for our team, which references work from activists and experts in antiracism. We thought it would be helpful to share these resources with you — as we all work together to become better and more active allies.
There is a convenient link to their anti-racist guide, which begins as follows:
Injustice is something that exists in the world and is faced daily by many different types of people. For many Black people, it ranges from microaggressions[1], like a woman clutching her purse when approaching a Black man or a person telling a Black woman she looks “neat and clean,” to death either at the hands of the police or someone else who believes they are within their right to invalidate a Black person’s life.
It gets worse from there. It is an extended call for groveling and submission.
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Mr. Tilghman is a refugee from Baltimore.
[1] According to Google, microagressions are a statement, action, or incident regarded as an instance of indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalized group such as a racial or ethnic minority.
