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02/07/2006:

"Racism takes a subtle turn in voice profiling"

Does black have a sound?

James Robinson thinks it does. He says his recent inquiry over the telephone about an apartment was rebuffed because of his voice. It made him sound like the black man that he is.

To test his theory, he asked two friends to call about the same two-bedroom apartment. One is African-American, the other white. Only the white person was told about the vacancy.

Discrimination based on someone's voice, or linguistic profiling, happens more often than people realize because of its subtle nature. Most victims don't even know it has happened.

"People understood, under Jim Crow, that was wrong because it was overt," said national linguistic expert John Baugh. "You had a sign that said, `Coloreds don't eat here. Coloreds don't sit here.' But when it's covert, when it's gone underground, that's the point it can escape detection."
kansascity.com