Brooklyn Park seeks to erase racist language from property deeds

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10:50 a.m. | Wednesday, January 25, 2023

Brooklyn Park joins more than a dozen other Minnesota cities that have begun removing racial covenants from property deeds.

During the first half of the 20th century, it was common for property developers to place “racial covenants” on property deeds.

“These covenants ensured that only whites and Christians could own property in these neighborhoods,” said Brooklyn Park planning director Paul Mogush.

Deed to a house off Zane Avenue North with a racial covenant.

The alliances targeted Asians, Latinos and Jews, but particularly those who were black.

According to Mogush, although the covenants have been illegal for decades, they remain embedded in the deeds of more than a hundred homes in Brooklyn Park.

“We plan to directly contact the approximately 125 landowners in the city who have these covenants on their deeds,” said Mogush, who added that the landlords are likely unaware that their deed includes a racial covenant.

Thanks to an organization called Just Deeds and its coalition of pro bono lawyers, removing the deed pledge won’t cost the homeowner a penny.

Tools for discovering restrictive covenants

Online resources that people can use to see if their property contains a covenant are also free.

The Mapping Prejudice Project is an effort by the University of Minnesota to catalog and map all covenants in Hennepin County.

The City of Brooklyn Park also has a website called Story Map which includes a map showing where the covenants are in the city.

According to Mogush, Brooklyn Park’s goal isn’t just to change records, the city wants to start a conversation about the future.

“What are we going to do about this through policy changes and investments to reduce racial disparities in home ownership and other areas that have resulted from the history of these pacts on people’s properties,” Mogush said.

Several cities have already participated in the Just Deeds project, including Robbinsdale, Golden Valley and Brooklyn Center

You can watch CCX News’ full special report on the covenants here.

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