Real estate accounts for 18% GDP and each home sale generates two jobs. It’s a top priority for state officials and business leaders across the country to build stable communities. In Minnesota, efforts to address inequity that keeps people locked out of the property market are well-advanced. Lee sits down to interview those directly involved.

Racial covenants along with violence, hostility and coercion played an outsized role in keeping non-white families out of sought-after suburbs. Lee learns how these practices became national policy after endorsement by the state’s wealthy business owners and powerful politicians.

Host Lee Hawkins investigates how a secret nighttime business deal unlocked the gates of a Minnesota suburb for dozens of Black families seeking better housing, schools, and safer neighborhoods. His own family included.

Racial covenants were used to prevent people of color from owning property, and can partially be blamed for lingering racial wealth gaps.

Decades of discriminatory housing practices created racial disparities in home ownership and wealth. The fight for equity in Minnesota continues today.