Kansas state Rep. Rui Xu’s district looks nothing like the Kansas of wheat fields and grain silos. A century ago, thousands of acres of suburbs here were planned by a visionary who prioritized green spaces, curving roads, and beautiful design. That developer also pioneered the use of homes associations and restrictive racial covenants – racist restrictions written into housing deeds to keep neighborhoods white, forever.  

Segregation was thought necessary for social order. Real estate developers nationwide spread the use of racial clauses, and later the federal government joined in with redlining. Racial covenants became unenforceable by a 1948 Supreme Court ruling and then illegal by the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968. But the language still exists in deeds – and the effects linger. 

Researchers at the University of Minnesota began mapping racial covenants in 2016. A steady trickle of states has since passed laws that more easily allow residents to remove a racial covenant from documents that are notoriously difficult to change. This May, a Washington state law established down-payment assistance for homebuyers whose families were disadvantaged by racial covenants. 

In Kansas, constituents urged Mr. Xu – the only Asian American currently elected to the Kansas state Legislature – to introduce a bill last year to redact racial covenants. Homeowners are often shocked to discover these clauses in paperwork attached to their homes. While Mr. Xu's bill is now dead, the Democrat has supported a similar Republican bill that cleared the House. When the Senate reconvenes in January, it may consider the bill.

Says Mr. Xu: “Even the staunchest conservatives are like, yeah, get those off the books.”