Woman Who Faced Racism When Buying a Home Speaks Out Against Bias

Dr. Raven Baxter, who was astonished earlier this year when a white homeowner tried to deny her the right to buy a condo, will be the face of a new national campaign aimed at combating housing discrimination.

In May, Dr. Baxter, who is Black and is a molecular biologist and science communicator, shared her experience on social media where she already had hundreds of thousands offollowers of her science content. Many followers urged her to file a claim of discrimination with the Virginia Fair Housing Office and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The National Fair Housing Alliance, a Washington-based nonprofit coalition of housing organizations, will sponsor the educational blitz that will include television and radio ads in both English and Spanish, four podcasts, and a targeted social media campaign in eight languages reaching YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and streaming audio platforms. HUD is providing a $1.3 million grant for the campaign, which will hit airwaves in summer 2025.

“Good things can happen when people stick up for themselves,” Dr. Baxter, 31, said in a recent interview. “Everyone deserves to be part of the American dream.”

Dr. Baxter was in escrow on a $749,000 ocean-view condo in Virginia Beach, when the seller learned she was Black and tried to cancel the sale. She said her shock was compounded by her uncertainty on how to defend herself, leading her to social media.

“I was so overwhelmed with what was happening to me. I couldn’t digest or interpret any of it. Even with a Ph.D., it was beyond me,” she said.