Star Tribune
100 racist deeds discharged since Mounds View required it before sale
Mounds View, the first Minnesota city to require homeowners to discharge racist language buried in deeds before they sell their homes, is celebrating a milestone: at least 100 homeowners have completed the process.
Officials say discharging the language is a symbolic step, but an important one.
“How could we call ourselves an inclusive community with the words ‘This home shall not be sold to a non-white person’ buried in the deeds?” Mayor Zach Lindstrom said at the state of the city address Monday.
Racially restrictive covenants, found in deeds around the Twin Cities and Minnesota, were legally enforceable tools of racial segregation for the first half of the 20th century. They barred homes’ sale to, and sometimes even occupancy by, anyone who wasn’t white until 1948, when they became unenforceable. Mapping Prejudice, a University of Minnesota research project uncovering these covenants, has found more than 33,000 of them in Minnesota, including more than 500 in Mounds View.
Many local cities have partnered with Just Deeds, a coalition that helps cities and their residents learn about and discharge covenants. In 2019, the Legislature passed a law allowing homeowners to add language to their deeds that discharges racist covenants but doesn’t erase them from the record. Earlier this year, Mounds View was the first to pass an ordinance requiring it. The city is also helping residents navigate the process.
Just because these covenants are no longer enforceable doesn’t mean they haven’t had long-lasting consequences, Kirsten Delegard, Mapping Prejudice project director, said at a Mounds View City Council meeting this summer: Minneapolis homes with racial covenants are worth 15% more than those without, she said. And neighborhoods with covenants remain the whitest parts of the Twin Cities.
Mounds View residents Rene and Steven Johnson were troubled to learn from Mapping Prejudice that their house, and many homes in their neighborhood, had racially restrictive covenants on them. It took some effort, including a trip to the Ramsey County Recorder’s Office, to find the document, which not only contained race restrictions but barred unmarried couples from owning the home.
The couple got their covenant discharged, and educated the city about the process, Rene Johnson said. That helped lead to the ordinance requiring covenants to be discharged before sale.
According to Gomez, workers have had wages withheld under threats of possible deportations. Unauthorized workers are less likely to seek legal aid due to their legal status.
“What I want from this program is for other people not to suffer the same abuses that we’ve suffered in the past,” Gomez said. “This program is designed to prevent these abuses.”
CTUL said workers’ rights under the program will be shared in multiple languages.
Gomez specifically named Yellow Tree, United Properties, and Solhem Cos. as developers he’d like to see join the program. CTUL called for these companies, as well as Roers, Doran Properties Group, and MWF Properties, to adopt the standards.
Those working under developers in the program can report abuse to the standards council. After a complaint is made, the council will monitor contractors’ worksites to make sure they are complying with the standards.
If the council finds that a contractor is abusing workers, developers in CTUL’s program would be legally required to stop working with the contractor.
One man is dead and two others were fighting for their lives Saturday, as Minneapolis police searched for suspects following a triple shooting in the early morning hours.
According to police, officers responded to reports of automatic gunfire at a homeless encampment near E. 21st Street and 15th Avenue S. shortly before 5 a.m. They arrived in the Ventura Village neighborhood south of downtown to find three victims with gunshot wounds.
The men were given aid and transported to HCMC, where one of them died. Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the other two remained in critical condition. The identities of the men, who were homeless, were not immediately released.
Investigators believe that an altercation occurred after three people approached the camp. One of the victims had a BB gun that resembled a real pistol, but it was unclear if that was a factor in the shooting.
“Once again, tragedy has occurred at a homeless encampment and all three of the injured are known to police,” O’Hara said at a news conference Saturday. “Residents in the area have been very frustrated. This is an ongoing issue with encampments and all of the activity that’s associated with it. As soon as one encampment is cleared, another one pops up somewhere else and crime in the area immediately rises.”
Citing department data, O’Hara said that around 13% of all Third Precinct crime, and 19% of the precinct’s gun violence, happens within 500 feet of encampments. He said he believed that the camp where the shooting occurred appeared after officials had closed a larger encampment by a Franklin Avenue overpass.
Paula Williams, who has lived in the area since the late 1970s, said she often greets youth from the encampment and that none have made her feel threatened. But Williams said drug use and sex trafficking have become an issue.
“It’s just been whack-a-mole,” she said. “The police come daily or every other day. Somebody calls and they get chased away and by the evening, they’re back.”
“… This summer an alcohol fueled argument escalated into something that I deeply regret. I said and did things that are unacceptable and I take full responsibility for my actions. Although there was never any physical violence I am deeply remorseful for the fear and trauma caused by my anger. I’ve since been given an opportunity to step back, reflect, assess, heal and grow. Although the path was unfortunate, the destination was necessary. I’ve been able to embrace sobriety, spirituality, and integrity. I’ve been able to find myself again and love myself again. The clarity and perspective I now possess is priceless and has fueled my determination and dedication. It’s no coincidence that this next chapter of my life begins as I turn 40 and I can’t wait to live the rest of my life as the best version of myself I’ve ever been and continue to give back to my community.”
Bullshit. Then, and especially now.
It’s clear Sutherland’s primary concern has been the impact of his legal case on his career. Plus, he knows he has the power to shape the narrative about the next chapter of his life.
Influential men always do. Sutherland’s success and charm could still provide the platform for him to earn an abundance of grace, and an apparently consensual meeting with the alleged victim will only enhance those ambitions. But those accused of domestic violence should not have the ability to proclaim their redemption. They’re not reliable sources.
The criminal complaint from the summer incident states that the alleged victim told police Sutherland had been physically and verbally abusive in the past. It’s a familiar story. Too familiar. According to the National Domestic Hotline, 4 out of 5 victims of intimate partner violence from 1994 to 2010 were women. And more than three-quarters of the female victims ages 18 to 49 were “previously victimized by the same offender.”
Thursday’s arrest complicates Sutherland’s legal case and perceptions about his summer encounter with his girlfriend. But it doesn’t change the facts.
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