Sanborn Park could become Philando Castile Park

People gathered on May 3 at Sanborn Park in Robbinsdale to celebrate the 1948 Supreme Court decision when they unanimously ruled that individuals could no longer use the courts to keep people of color from living in neighborhoods.

Previously, racial covenants could be added to target people of color with a racially restrictive deed, and the courts would enforce them. Black people were often the target of these racial covenants, though many of them declared that only Caucasian people could purchase, mortgage, lease or occupy the property.

Local historian Peter James Ward Richie speculated this was mostly a marketing technique. A 100% white neighborhood was a selling point at the time.

“It was more like the real estate agent saying ‘let’s whip up a little fear and then let’s sell them a little bit of reassurance,’” Richie said.

The Sanborn family, which the park was named after, added racially restrictive deeds to many properties in Robbinsdale, but the name could change. The Robbinsdale Human Rights Commission has developed a name-changing policy which was recently approved by the City Council and could be used to change the name of the park.

A table asking passersby to write suggestions for a new name collected “Unity Park” and many versions of “Philando Castile Park.” Castile was a Black man who was killed by police in 2016 in Falcon Heights. Although Castile did not live in Robbinsdale, the commission said Castile had family who lived in Robbinsdale and that he may have spent time in Sanborn Park.

The Human Rights Commission hopes to have a forum in the future to connect with people a little more about the name change and determine if Philando Castile Park or another name would be appropriate.

As far as the legacy of racial covenants, they can still be felt today. According to 2019 census data, 76.9 percent of white households were homeowners while only 43.6 percent of Black, Indigenous and households of color were homeowners. Additionally, many racial covenants still exist, though they cannot be enforced.

Mapping Prejudice, an organization that trains volunteers to comb through deeds for racist language has found over 31,000 racial covenants so far in Minnesota.

What can people do about it?

Hennepin County allows for residents to file an affidavit erasing racial covenants free of charge. To help with the legalities, Just Deeds will connect people with a lawyer free of charge. Just Deeds was co-founded by Maria Cisneros, attorney for the city of Golden Valley.

Residents from the Longfellow neighborhood in Minneapolis have been leaders in the Free the Deeds project. This organization works to educate people, connect them with resources and has formed a toolkit other groups or neighborhood communities could potentially use.

Ben Howery of Free the Deeds said “If you stop having these conversations, the work starts to stop as well. So a lot of people always ask ‘Isn’t this symbolic work? Isn’t this like, aren’t [racial covenants] not enforceable anymore? And the answer is always yes. However, symbolic action can turn into actual physical results.”