Oregon lawmakers move to ease scrubbing of racist provisions
SALEM, Ore. (AP) - When Oregon lawmaker Julie Fahey and her husband bought a house, the deed said that only whites could live there unless the person was a domestic servant.
Across America, many home owners and buyers of older properties like Fahey are shocked to see racist exclusions remaining on deeds, decades after they were outlawed. Fahey researched how to remove the offensive language, and discovered that doing so would be complicated and expensive. Notice would have to be served to every person and institution with financial interest in the property and a request filed in court.
Fahey, a Democrat in the Oregon House of Representatives who is white, decided to sponsor a bill to make it easier for people to scrub the offensive language from their deeds. The measure unanimously sailed through Oregon's House of Representatives on Wednesday, but not before it opened a window on how the racist provisions are hurtful, and how they underscore housing inequalities that persist today.
Sen. Lew Frederick, an African-American representing Portland, told a hearing on the bill last week that the deed to his own home still has language that says he cannot live there.
Read more: http://www.msnewsnow.com/story/37519140/oregon-lawmakers-move-to-ease-scrubbing-of-racist-provisions