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stAilf ififtia6ial covenants, startiilgth4/e sit au ecCe lsfully divided Minneapolis <br />and Paul distinct Black and white neighborhoods that remain e_.:dcgtps:QYLti r//milk <br />St. 1" dUl into distinct ll, 1, 11G1 111J V111V VUJ Llldl. G V lU <br />today, according to data collected by the Mapping Prejudice Project u=httpsctoWo <br />twin- twin- <br />(https://mappingprejudice.umn.edu/) at the University of Minnesota. cities-cities- <br />housirt ausing- <br />rules- rules - <br />As farmland turned to subdivisions, covenants effectively created an invisikep- keep- <br />the- the - <br />wall in the suburbs along Minneapolis' borders. There were at least 2,400 metroi„etro{https:, <br />covenanted homes in St. Louis Park, a city of just 22,000 people by the timegre <br />racial covenants were deemed unenforceable in 1948. <br />These covenants worked hand -in -hand with real estate steering, white <br />intimidation and "redlining" — a government -backed effort that designated <br />minority neighborhoods as being high -risk for mortgage lending — to maintain <br />all -white neighborhoods and keep people of color out of homeownership. <br />In 1952, a Black family that wanted "to live in the more open atmosphere of <br />the country" was met with bribes and threats when they bought a home in <br />what was then Minnetonka Township. Neighbors attempted to halt the <br />purchase and gathered a protest meeting. <br />A Minneapolis Star editorial about the neighbors' concerns said, "It wasn't <br />claimed, for example, that these people are irresponsible, shiftless, ill-behaved, <br />etc. Actually the man is a mail carrier, a veteran of the last war, and a good <br />enough credit risk to satisfy a major city bank. But he's a Negro." <br />