Take action

White supremacy is anchored in amnesia. White Americans have sought to forget the racist practices that created contemporary racial inequities. Teach this history. Invite people to participate in a collective reckoning around this history. Resist campaigns to obscure the past.

Acknowledgement is meaningless without action. Think expansively about ways to make change. There is no single path to justice. Every person needs to find the right combination of direct protest, advocacy, community organizing, philanthropy, and electoral politics.

The racial wealth gap was deliberately created. Racial inequalities will continue to grow without large scale intervention. Engage with the local and national processes that are underway to shape those reparative measures.

Contemporary racial inequities were constructed over centuries and through interlocking practices. No single, simple reparative solution exists. Learn to identify structural racism and disrupt the practices that perpetuate these inequities.

Legislatures are suppressing accurate history from being taught in K-12 classrooms across the United States. Support this curriculum and learn more about the struggle against these actions in your geography.

Covenants were always embedded in a larger set of practices that prevented people who were not White from owning property, getting credit, amassing wealth, and accessing community resources. Learn how purportedly “race neutral” laws and regulations perpetuate racial inequities. Demand change from policymakers and elected officials.

Over the last century, policies meant to improve the urban environment have exacerbated racial inequities and harmed those most vulnerable. People most affected by the problem have been suggesting reparative solutions. For example, in the Twin Cities, organizations led by people of color have created Equity in Place, which has crafted this policy platform.

Minnesota was one of the first states to make it possible for property owners to “discharge” racial covenants. This allows homeowners to renounce but not erase these racist clauses. This empowers people targeted by these restrictions to claim space once reserved for White people. For White homeowners, the discharge process can provide a foundation for collective organizing to support reparations.

Paying attention to local reparative initiatives will allow you to apply this history in your community. Organizations like the Longfellow Community Council are always finding new ways to build programming around covenants research in their community.