Island County commissioners are moving forward with adopting a “resolution for atonement” that extends “a profound apology” to individuals and families in the past who were affected by racist rules in property deeds.
Commissioner Melanie Bacon wrote the resolution in response to the Racial Restrictive Covenants Project, a state-funded effort, identifying more than 900 properties in 22 subdivisions in Island County with deed covenants from 1930 to 1950 that only restricted non-white people from living or owning property in the areas.
Bacon, a Democrat, and Commissioner Jill Johnson, a Republican, discussed the two-page resolution at a work session meeting Wednesday and agreed to move it forward to a regular meeting for possible formal adoption. Commissioner Janet St. Clair, a Democrat, was absent from the discussion.
St. Clair said in a text that she wanted to “recognize Commissioner Bacon’s effort as important to understand the mistakes of the past so we can move on to a more equitable future.”
In their discussion, the two commissioners emphasized that the exclusion of Black people from being able to purchase some of the most beautiful and valuable property in the county had real, lasting consequences that led to disparities today.
“As the values of those properties increased,” the resolution states, “families lucky enough to purchase those properties from their inception through the adoption of the Fair Housing Act in 1968 built up generational property wealth, a benefit that non-white families had no opportunity to enjoy.”
Johnson suggested that the word “lucky” isn’t quite accurate and should be changed.
“It’s not about luck. There were individuals who had economic opportunities that others did not have,” she said.
The resolution acknowledges that racist restrictions were common in the past in communities across the nation, but it states that “they are nevertheless a stain on our history because our Board predecessors could have acknowledged the iniquity of such abominable discrimination and refused to participate, but did not do so.”
The resolution encourages community members who own homes with the offensive deed covenants to pursue modification through the auditor’s office, even though restrictions are no longer lawful and have no effect. Johnson suggested that the resolution could be amended to say that the county will allow the changes in the deeds without any cost; Bacon agreed.
Johnson and Bacon also agreed that the resolution shouldn’t be considered controversial. It simply acknowledges that change was needed, Johnson said.
The resolution will be placed on the agenda for a future meeting.
