Racial Discrimination Costs Virginia Campground Landlord $750K

The white landlord of a campground in Virginia has been found guilty of racial discrimination and ordered to pay $750,000 to two families in what is “the largest fair housing jury verdict obtained by the Office of the Attorney General to date,” according to a statement from the Attorney General’s office. 

The Washington Post reports that the case stemmed from a camping trip that friends Amanda Mills and Angela Smith planned to take with their families in 2020. Smith is a white woman, and her husband Damien Smith is Black. Together, they have an 8-year-old son. 

After the two families arrived at Lazy Cove Campground in Penhook, Virginia, Mills received a startling phone call from landlord Regina Turner.

“You didn’t tell me that your friend’s husband is Black,” Turner said to Mills, according to a complaint filed with the Virginia Fair Housing Board. “Had I known I wouldn’t have rented the lot to them. I saw the son, but I figured everyone makes a mistake.”

Turner also voiced her racist views to Mills’ mother, openly admitting to discrimination against Black people.

“I feel like [your daughter] should have known that no Blacks are allowed in my Campground because she hasn’t seen any Blacks in my Campground,” Turner said, according to the complaint. “When you get a Black person in the park, then you’re going to end up with a lot more to come in.”

Turner also allegedly told a different tenant on the campground that she wanted to wait until the lease ended to kick them out, to avoid legal consequences.

“I can’t make them move now because if I give both of them moving notices now, they could take my park from me. I’m smart, you know, and I’ve got to use my head,” she said, according to court documents reported on by NBC News.

After learning of Damien Smith’s race, Turner made plans to expel their family from the campground.

From WaPo:

Turner said she planned to evict the Smiths, the complaint states, then later said she would allow them and Mills to stay temporarily to avoid trouble but planned to refuse to renew their leases.

When the two families tried to leave, they said, Turner refused to offer a prorated refund for the remainder of their leases or allow them to sell their campers on-site, both things they say she had permitted previous tenants to do.

The families decided to file their complaint with the Virginia Fair Housing Board after learning Turner had referred to the Smiths’ biracial son as a “mistake.” NBC reports that the Virginia Attorney General’s Office and the Virginia Fair Housing Board’s civil lawsuit against Turner included one count of refusing to rent and two counts of discrimination.  

“As a Black man, I knew at some point in his life we were going to have the conversation, but we figured it was going to be when he was much older,” Damien Smith told the Washington Post. “But at 8 years old, it was tough; it was a hard pill for me to swallow. Sadly, he’s got to learn these things.”

Turner said her deceased husband used to discriminate against Black renters, but insisted she had welcomed “all kinds of people” since he died in 2009. She did admit to calling Mills about Smith’s husband, claiming that she felt “betrayed” after seeing that he was Black. Turner also said that she didn’t evict the two families and that they left the campground on their own volition.

The jury didn’t believe her though. After deliberating for only two hours, they awarded each couple $100,000. An additional $550,000 was awarded in punitive damages. 

“Housing discrimination—and discrimination of any kind—will not be tolerated in Virginia,” said Attorney General Jason Miyares in a statement. “We are pleased by the jury’s verdict, and I’m immensely proud of my Civil Rights Unit. The people of Franklin County have spoken: Smith Mountain Lake is for everyone.”

SEE ALSO:

‘Segregated Facilities’ No Longer Explicitly Banned Under Trump

Study: Racism, Discrimination Are Making Us Age Faster

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