Bush moving to white neighborhood
It pains me to write this, but George W. and Laura are to be the new residents in Preston Hollow, a gated community that, until the year 2000, had the following rule: “Said property shall be used and occupied by white persons except those shall not prevent occupancy by domestic servants of different race or nationality in the employ of a tenant.”
Texas is infamous for running the largest slave markets in the United States. I understand that many neighborhoods had this type of covenant, but this one kept it until 2000? Only 8 years ago? No one caught it in the 43 years that it was in force? It went into force in 1957. It wasn’t stricken with Civil Rights legal changes?
I wandered thru the Dallas Freedman’s Cemetery,
which commemorates slaves who were freed.
You might not remember, but Texas didn’t free its slaves when Lincoln did TWO AND A HALF YEARS EARLIER. Texas waited until June 19th, 1865, hence the Juneteenth Celebrations.
This cemetery is near a freeway. Not in a gated community. These statues are at the front, outside the Cemetery: they represent the magnificence of Africans on their own land.
And here are the representations of what happened, when they were stolen away, dragged onto slave boats and carried to America.
Here’s the statue that sits at the center of this special place of remembrance:
Because this history is still so raw, and our Former President is buying into an enclave where the only allowed non-whites were live-in servants when he was put in as President 8 short years ago, Bush should publicly address and disavow the history of racism at his new home. 15 of 17 homeowners signed a petition to strike the offensive clause from the Meaders Estate ownership covenant in 2000 and it was so stricken in 2001. You can read the original covenant and its 2001 addendum, here.
Traffic has increased, as gawkers look on the President’s future home… Here’s what police say: “When the Bushes are here full time, I imagine we’ll be here full time,” said Officer Michael Bratcher of the Dallas Police Department, who was directing traffic.
I wonder where the Dallas Police Department and the Dallas City Government were until 2000?
Those are some amazing, powerful images of the statues. I’ll have to put that on my list of places to see, next time I’m out on a road trip.
As to the rules of the community, is there any mention of those being enforced in recent years? There’s a lot of dumb laws that just get ignored and no one ever changes them.
Good post though, thanks for sharing about the cemetery.
Carlin
http://twitter.com/carlincomm