TUPELO, Miss. — A Mississippi couple is upset after they said they were kicked out of the RV park they were living at because of their race.
Erica Flores Dunahoo, who is Hispanic and Native American, and her husband, Stanley Hoskins, an African-American, moved into the RV park in Tupelo in February, the Clarion-Ledger reported.
The RV park’s owner, Gene Baker, was nice when he and Dunahoo first met and she gave him a check for the first month’s rent.
The next day, however, Baker called her and said he didn’t realize she was married to a black man.
“It’s a big problem with the members of my church, my community and my mother-in-law,” Baker said, according to Dunahoo. “They don’t allow that black and white shacking.”
Dunahoo and Hoskins are married with two children, and Hoskins has served in the National Guard for 13 years. Dunahoo said she and Hoskins have never experienced any problems in their 10 years together as an interracial couple.
When Baker didn’t change his mind, Dunahoo and Hoskins got their money back and moved to a different RV park, where the rent is higher.
Baker said he has no problem with interracial couples and said his church lets interracial couples attend. However, Dunahoo said while they’re allowed to attend, they’re not allowed to be members.
Baker said he asked the couple to leave the park because the neighbors were giving him a problem.
“The best thing you can do is what the neighbors want to do,” he said, per the Clarion-Ledger.
When asked if he would rent to another interracial couple if the situation arose, he said “I’m closing it down, and that solves the problem.”
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