ST PAUL, Minn. — Have you read the deed to your house? It may contain language meant to prevent people of color from buying and occupying land. It's called a racial covenant.
"They stipulated that property had to remain in the hands of white people," St. Paul city attorney Lyndsey Olson explained at a press conference Monday. "Anyone who challenged this ban risked forfeiting their claim to the property."
Racial covenants are no longer legally enforceable. Yet, in a project called Mapping Prejudice, the University of Minnesota found at least 30,000 property deeds in Hennepin and Ramsey Counties still include such language.
"Language matters," St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter said. "Words matter."
St. Paul is now the 21st city to join the Just Deeds Coalition, a group helping property owners remove racist restrictions from their property deeds. Bloomington, Edina, Golden Valley, Hopkins, Minneapolis, Shoreview, and Wayzata are also members.
"Clearing these covenants is not an attempt to erase our history," Olson said. "The work is an opportunity to raise awareness of how our past affects our present."
This comes after the St. Paul City Council last year unanimously approved the city attorney's office to lead St. Paul's involvement in the project.
Property owners are encouraged to visit the Mapping Prejudice map on the city's website, or sites for Ramsey County, the Just Deeds Coalition and the University of Minnesota to check if their property includes a racial covenant. There is a form to fill out to request removal.
"We will review that, we'll pull the documents, we'll contact you," Olson said.
Then, certified student attorneys from Mitchell Hamline School of Law will file paperwork to try to get the racist language removed or rewritten.
"Sometimes we get the question, 'Why are we putting effort into discharging covenants if they're no longer enforceable?'" said Golden Valley city attorney Maria Cisneros, who also works with Just Deeds. "As somebody who has gone through the process of discharging a covenant on my own home – I've also helped people discharge covenants on their homes – it's a tangible first step that any individual can take to place themselves in this history."
Mikeya Griffin, executive director of the Rondo Community Land Trust, says she went through the process for the Land Trust's building.
"Getting the deed and reading the language that this particular property could not be leased or owned by a colored person … that's disheartening," she said. "It was fairly easy to actually get the deed discharged from the building."
It was only in 2019 the Minnesota Legislature passed a law allowing covenants to be discharged. Previously in Ramsey and Hennepin Counties, property owners were required to pay a recording fee. Now though, in partnership with Just Deeds, fees are waived in both counties.