For those unfamiliar with the ongoing controversy, the Vaiden Inn, a historic building in the village of New Kent Courthouse was delisted from the site Airbnb for its historical connects to slavery.
From WAVY TV Channel 10 in Norfolk
NEW KENT, Va. (WAVY) — Take a stroll down New Kent Highway and you’ll see the Vaiden Inn.
But take a scroll down Airbnb, and you won’t see it listed.
Airbnb removed the Vaiden Inn listing last June, and as of Monday, it removed the better-known New Kent Ordinary next door as well.
Vaiden Inn owner Jessica Angel had listed with Airbnb ever since she and her mother bought the place in 2017.
“(We listed) right off the bat, as soon as the doors were open,” Angel said in a recent interview.
And then the popular website called her last June.
Read the rest here
The YouTube upload of the station's story
My thoughts?
While recognizing the sensitivity of people regarding this topic, we must realize that actions, especially punitive ones, have consequences. The actions of Airbnb as they stand now seem to incentivize the concealing and possibly even the destruction of historical records and structures. Airbnb fails to realize that there is a growing interest in the Black "historical" community in slave quarter, houses, and workplaces both in the urban and rural environment. A great effort is now being exerted to find, catalog, and preserve these structures. If property owners are penalized for the careful preservation and stewardship of these properties, it is a loss to everyone's history.
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