St. Louis homeowners want to get rid of racial covenants. But in Missouri, it's complicated

[Sherman A1]

Kalila Jackson has a big goal written on her vision board: End racially restrictive covenants.

The senior attorney at the Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing and Opportunity Council wants to make sure homeowners don’t get the same shock she did reading a covenant for the first time.

“To see ‘no Negros,’ or ‘no Jewish people allowed,’ that does a certain violence to one’s spirit,” said Jackson, who is Black. “I knew I had to do something about it.”

The legal documents were widely used in St. Louis in the early- to mid-1900s to keep Black families out of white neighborhoods. St. Louis Public Radio reported Thursday that there are roughly 30,000 properties in the city with restrictive covenants tied to their deeds that specifically bar selling or renting to Black people, among other racial, ethnic and religious groups.

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/culture-history/2021-11-19/st-louis-homeowners-want-to-get-rid-of-racial-covenants-but-in-missouri-its-complicated

[cbabe]

1. Seattle remains deeply segregated due to historical

racial and religious covenants.

As one friend said, ‘If they don’t want me in the neighborhood, I’ll take my money elsewhere.’

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

2. The state legislature simply can't pass a law

Declaring all such covenants to be nullified? Or don't they want to?