Purging racist property records

Sacramento Bee ^ | 9/12/5 | Stephen Magagnini

[wideawake]

Waste of time. Waste of taxpayer money. The covenants are void - they can't hurt anyone anymore.

[zek157]

The horror! I bought a house with a similar covenant. It was so distressing to see that statement within the dozens of papers I signed. Simply terrible. I guess I never read it ever again. Somehow my life has been changed though. Think I can sue someone?

[glorgau]

I think they serve a good purpose. They are a strong reminder of what our country used to be - and is no longer.

[roylene]

What's a white Caucasian?
I thought Caucasian meant white.
Silly me.

[John Jorsett]

No, it isn't a waste of money, IMO. Time after time, the Democrats go through some poor GOP sap's property records looking for this kind of stuff. When they find it, they smear him with the charge that he's a racist or anti-semite because he hasn't gone to the time and expense of legally removing the language, even though some bigot put it on the property decades ago and it's now void and legally unenforceable. I'm all for anything that takes that weapon away from the Dems. I suspect that's why a Republican is backing this legislation.

[roylene]

My husband and I were distressed by our property covenant also, we are not permitted to sell or raise chickens.

[American Quilter]

What a trivial thing on which to waste tax dollars.

[sharkhawk]

I wonder if it wastes more tax dollars for a person to go through all the legal hoops to remove the covenant? Not to mention all the money wasted by the homeowner.

[Izzy Dunne]

I didn't know Californians could be racists - I thought you had to grow up in the ignorant South.

< / sarcasm, dammit>

[Flint]

I can't cut a tree down that is over 6" in diameter. You can't imagine the stress this has caused to me and my family. Who can I sue?

[nomorelurker]

I'm not in Ca but Tx but do agree that it would be a waste of time and money. Those covenants are looong since unenforceable. I work in title insurance and see them occasionally they are simply ignored. I do see some politically correct disclaimers along the lines of "hey we didn't put them there we just listing what's there". I used to get to look at very old records (still do on rare occasions) as part of my job it was always interesting to find where and old farm or ranch had been purchased for something like "6 mules, 3 bales of cotton and 2 slaves". I probably just let the cat out of the bag on some new reparations theory.

[mcg1969]

I absolutely agree. I have one of these racist covenenants on my house as well. I had to sign it, along with another document stating that I acknowledge that the race-specific clauses are null and void. It's a totally straightforward and sufficient way to rectify the problem.

[mcg1969]

What's a white Caucasian? I thought Caucasian meant white.

Care to rethink that?

[Stashiu]

In the covenants of a home a bought about 15 years ago, it had one of those clauses that went something like "only persons of the Caucasian race may buy the house, or reside in the home with the exception of domestics..." At settlement I announced that I was an octoroon, and did they want my certificate of racial purity...meanwhile my wife was kicking me underneath the table.

The attorney was smooth and said "...of course, Federal Law preempts any conflicting provisions," with a marvelous Shelby Foote drawl.

[Brilliant]

Sen. Landrieu made a big thing of her vote to apologize for lynchings in June. In light of what happened a couple of weeks ago, one asks whether her time might have been better spent doing something else.

California has a lot of fault lines. I am certain that Californians have something better to do with their time and money than this.

[porkchops 4 mahound]

idiots on parade

[Blood of Tyrants]

This was done to create another money wasting, useless federal department.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Well, I can't have pigs (although the previous owner had one anyway.)

[American Quilter]

I wonder if it wastes more tax dollars for a person to go through all the legal hoops to remove the covenant? Not to mention all the money wasted by the homeowner.

Yes. I don't know whether I'm outraged at the waste of time and money, or relieved that the legislators are doing this instead of thinking up more ways to rob me of my freedom.