The Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder's office is about to start looking for official prejudice in its property records.
"Mapping Prejudice in Contra Costa County" is a community-driven initiative, announced yesterday (Wednesday), to identify and map racially restrictive covenants.
Such covenants were once commonly inserted into property deeds. They were used to exclude minority groups from owning or occupying certain properties or living in certain communities.
The project will be conducted in partnership with a research team based at the University of Minnesota. It will engage residents to identify and transcribe information necessary to put now-illegal restrictions on a modern map.
In San Francisco, I’m Sunni Khalid, KALW News.
NOTE: Officials will train volunteers, who will access a digital portal to examine historical property records flagged by the research team at the University of Minnesota. For more information on Mapping Prejudice in Contra Costa County and to volunteer, go www.contracostavote.gov or email Volunteers@cr.cccounty.us.
