Integrating Two Neighborhoods

As my parents scouted homes in Roslyn Heights, Long Island in 1964, they wondered why the house with the For Sale sign on Deepdale Parkway wasn’t on the list they had of “Better Homes” for sale. My father got out of the car and met the owner. It was kind of perfect — the owners’ divorce meant the home wasn’t yet on the market, a quick ‘distressed’ sale at a good price.

My mother says that as we unloaded our vehicle on move-in day, the shocked former owner shrieked loudly enough he hoped everyone in the neighborhood would hear. “I didn’t know! I DIDN’T KNOW!!”

How fortunate that my mom had waited in the car that first evening! More black people should follow that lesson: always have one of the white people in your family be the lead in real estate deals. Even today, too many foolish Negros fail to follow that simple rule and wind up in inferior housing. Then again, my parents’ 1951 marriage had been illegal in 28 states, with no semblance of federal protection until the unanimous 1967 Loving vs Virginia Supreme Court decision for marriage equality. Integrated families were even rarer than integrated neighborhoods.

The Italian family across the street put up a For Sale sign — perhaps they singlehandedly lowered the neighborhood’s property values before changing their minds. Since unlike the white suburban ladies, my mother worked — a math teacher — my parents’ two incomes allowed us the most beautifully gardened and best kept property in the neighborhood.

Three decades later I was a research scientist in Silicon Valley putting a down payment on a lovely house in Barron Park, Palo Alto. The realtor and title company agent needed my signature on 19 papers at the closing.

“You can ignore Clause 2,” said the realtor of one three page form. Really? I’d never spent more on anything in my life. I figured I should read everything I was agreeing to.

She looked disappointed as I began reading. “It’s no longer enforced.”

No longer enforced?

“Not since the Fair Housing Act of 1968. That bill Dr. King fought for.” The big one after the Voting Rights Act.

2. That said lot shall not, nor shall any part thereof, or any estate or interest therein, be, at any time, occupied or used by any person or persons other than those of the Caucasian or white race, provided, however, that this restriction shall not be construed to prohibit keeping domestic servants of any race.

Every owner of every home in the neighborhood has signed it since 1948. There are thousands of similar neighborhood agreements across America, in every state. Only the wealthy ever see them. It was 1995 and I was finally wealthy enough to be asked to sign it too. The house is 6 times more valuable today, the most profitable investment of my life.

I looked at the Title Company agent. “I have to sign this?”

She struggled visibly for a moment: “Only… if you want the house.”

The realtor’s voice cracked: “It’s perfectly standard.”

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. holiday!