Linguistic Profiling
I heard this on the ABC Evening News with Peter Jennings tonight and thought I would share.
A black man (in San Francisco, I believe) was searching for an apartment. He called the apartment manager and left several messages, but never received a return call. He figured that he was being discriminated against because the manager could tell by his voice that he is black. He then asked a white friend to call and leave a message. The friend's call was returned promptly.
The black man then contacted the fair housing authority. A black and white employees called and left messages. The black employees never got return phone calls, but the white employees did. So, the black man decided to sue and his case will be heard beginning next week.
The segment included an interview with a linguist and his students who study different voice patterns. It also included audio of two people speaking and asked viewers to guess the race of each person. I guessed correctly that the first person was a black woman. The second was a Latino male. I thought he was black.
Now, I'm sure most of us have heard or been told "you sound white". I remember last year while I was at work I was speaking with a gentleman on the telephone from my hometown. While making small talk, I mentioned that my mom's maiden name was the same as his last name. I said something like you never know, we could be related. He sarcasticly said I don't think so. I asked why, and he said because he is black. I said well so am I. He was quite embarrassed and apologized.
In any event, the report discussed how this could be compared to racial profiling. The problem is how does someone successfully prove they have been discriminated against because of their voice.
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