The winds of change are blowing in land records offices across the country and it’s been a long time coming as states are beginning to remove decades-old racist language from property records. The stage has already been set in California, where land records offices have been busy putting together their plans to comply with Assembly Bill No. 1466, which calls for the redaction of racially restrictive covenants.
The language in question often references excluding minorities from being allowed to live in a certain development. While these covenants can’t be enforced, they’re currently serving no purpose other than to be a burden for minority homebuyers.
Massachusetts is the next state trying to tackle this issue, but the state is still grappling with the best way to solve the problem. Last year, the Massachusetts land court started allowing judges to add a note to these covenants saying that they’re void, but state officials are hoping to go further, allowing constituents to remove the offensive language through Bill H.1465.
Often times homeowners are unaware of the language because it can be buried deep within some of these long documents. It’s rather distressing though, to see that this language has persisted. When homeowners do a deep dive into their property records, they’ll find these restrictive clauses and bring them up to lawmakers to do something about them.
In Massachusetts, clauses have been found as far back as the 1800s that either target a specific immigrant group or restrict rental or ownership to whites. The property records go all the way back to the 1600s which makes it significantly more difficult to find them since the text is handwritten and not searchable. On top of that, the volume of documents is extremely high. A single register of deeds in Middlesex North noted that he had 14 million pages of land records, and his office is just one of 21 throughout the state.
An issue further complicating things is that not everyone is in favor of removing the language. A community organizer expressed that the language should be preserved so we can remember the very real history of those who were discriminated against and ensure that it doesn’t happen again.
Regardless of the route Massachusetts takes, more and more public awareness of this issue means it will likely be a conversation in more states soon.
At Extract, we’re not strangers to document volumes in the millions because we use software to automate redaction processes like these. Our technology converts documents to digital text and identifies the information you’re looking for through matching, context clues, and more. We can then deliver your data anywhere you’d like or permanently redact the information so it’s irretrievable.
If you’re interested in learning more about our process, please reach out.
About the Author: Chris Mack
Chris is a Marketing Manager at Extract with experience in product development, data analysis, and both traditional and digital marketing. Chris received his bachelor’s degree in English from Bucknell University and has an MBA from the University of Notre Dame. A passionate marketer, Chris strives to make complex ideas more accessible to those around him in a compelling way.