{"id":18401,"date":"2022-06-01T16:43:28","date_gmt":"2022-06-01T21:43:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/?p=18401"},"modified":"2022-06-01T16:46:09","modified_gmt":"2022-06-01T21:46:09","slug":"eliminating-inequities-one-deed-at-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/2022\/06\/01\/eliminating-inequities-one-deed-at-a-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Eliminating inequities, one deed at a time"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Maria Cisneros ’14, standing in front of Golden Valley City Hall, where she is city attorney.<\/p><\/div>\n

Maria Cisneros \u201814 was shocked to learn her home in the Twin Cities suburb of Golden Valley, not far from where she grew up, had a racially restrictive covenant on its records. It meant her husband, who is from Venezuela, and her family would not have been able to buy the home if that language was still enforceable.<\/p>\n

So Cisneros, who also spent years before becoming an attorney helping immigrant families access essential resources and mortgages, took immediate action to remove the covenant language.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was cathartic to take that \u2018ick\u2019 off our title and declare that we are allowed to and should<\/em> be there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But the process was tedious, and Cisneros wondered how others without a law degree would fare. As Golden Valley\u2019s city attorney and president of the Minnesota Association of City Attorneys, she was able to act \u2013 which led to a grassroots effort called Just Deeds<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Just Deeds collaborates across Minnesota communities to educate and help residents discharge the restrictive deeds at no cost. The effort, led by volunteer attorneys, real estate agents, and city partners, includes the city of Robbinsdale, where Cisneros\u2019 father, Bill Blonigan \u201879, is mayor. Mitchell Hamline staff member and state Rep. Mike Freiberg \u201905 is one of several volunteer attorneys.<\/p>\n

Just Deeds is connected to a project called Mapping Prejudice<\/a>, which in recent years has mapped which homes in Hennepin County, Minnesota, have these covenants on their titles.<\/p>\n

\"Mitchell<\/a>

This article first appeared in the Spring 2022 issue of Mitchell Hamline Law magazine.<\/p><\/div>\n

Mapping Prejudice co-founder Kirsten Delegard says collaborating with Just Deeds helps people connect the data in meaningful ways. \u201cIt helps draw the line in very personal ways in terms of what people\u2019s relationships are to practices of structural racism,\u201d she said. \u201cThe map helps people see that connection. Just Deeds is helping people take action from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intent of helping people go through the discharge process is that it is experiential learning for both the attorney and the homeowners,\u201d added Cisneros. \u201cYou\u2019re learning more about the history of your property, your neighborhood, and your city. And attorneys learn how to talk to people about systemic racism.\u201d<\/p>\n

With 101 discharges completed and hundreds pending, Cisneros hopes the effort increases community involvement. \u201cWhen people connect with local government on this, there\u2019s a lot of policy making that impacts how our communities are organized and who has access to spaces and resources,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Removing the racist and restrictive language is \u201ca powerful act to take back your space,\u201d she noted. \u201cIt\u2019s like you\u2019ve reclaimed this piece of land and staked your claim and said: \u2018this is now an equitable and not a whites-only space.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Marla Khan-Schwartz is a freelance writer in the Twin Cities.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maria Cisneros \u201814 was shocked to learn her home in the Twin Cities suburb of Golden Valley, not far from where she grew up, had a racially restrictive covenant on its records. It meant her husband, who is from Venezuela, and her family would not have been able to buy the home if that language … <\/p>\n

Eliminating inequities, one deed at a time<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5668,"featured_media":18405,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21,3,5],"tags":[429,99,195,426,428,427,424,430,425,431],"class_list":{"0":"post-18401","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-alumni","8":"category-features","9":"category-news","10":"tag-bill-blonigan","11":"tag-housing","12":"tag-housing-law","13":"tag-just-deeds","14":"tag-kirsten-delegard","15":"tag-mapping-prejudice","16":"tag-maria-cisneros","17":"tag-mike-freiberg","18":"tag-racial-covenants","19":"tag-redlining","20":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5668"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}