Statement of Acknowledgement from the Magnolia Community Council on Racially Restrictive Covenants

The Magnolia Community Council acknowledges with deep regret and condemnation the central role our organization played for at least a decade beginning in the early 1930s to  exclude Black, Asian, Native and  Jewish  Americans and other marginalized communities from our community. Our Council, at the time, encouraged Magnolia residents to sign statements agreeing not to sell their properties to non-whites in the misguided and reprehensible belief that such sales would damage the community. The Council also encouraged residents to add covenants to their property deeds that specifically forbade the sale of those properties to non-whites in perpetuity.

These systemic policies  of exclusion not only prevented broad segments of the city’s population from living in Magnolia, they also contributed to long-lasting disparities in housing access, wealth accumulation and education among affected minorities.

As one step in that direction, and in collaboration with the UW Racial Restrictive Covenants Project, MCC is launching an effort to educate our community about the 1,300 Magnolia properties whose deeds still contain these racist covenants and support the process to modify them. Although the covenants are no longer legally enforceable, we believe the education and modification process is an important step in acknowledging and addressing this shameful past.  As a council that strives to serve and represent all residents of Magnolia, we see the recognition of this dark past  as a first step toward reconciliation and healing. We pledge to support actions and policies that seek to foster equity, address historical harm, and to encourage the development of a more inclusive community in Magnolia.

We invite our neighbors to join us in this work as we promote the Racial Restrictive Covenants Project in Magnolia—not only to understand the past, but to help shape a better, more just future for our community. You can learn more about the project on MCC’s website, and look up your Magnolia address to see if it includes a racial restrictive covenants by filling out this form here.

Magnolia Community Council