An acquaintance has recently decided to buy a little place in the Catalina Foothills and obtained a copy of the CC&Rs for his new estate.

Most property owners know what CC&Rs are; Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions are the rules and regulations that stipulate what you may and may not do with your property. Violation the CC&Rs is a legally punishable offense. You may not paint your house bright red, perhaps, or drill for oil, or park your car in your driveway for more than two hours.

If you do, your Home Owners Association may impose a fine. Don’t pay the fine and they’ll place a lien on your property such that you won’t be able to sell it until the fine is paid.

Two items, still included in the CC&Rs (but happily not now enforceable) provide us a picture of how we used to be not so very long ago.

“No part of said property shall be sold, conveyed, rented or leased, in whole or in part to any person of Negro or Mongolian descent, or to any person not of the White or Caucasian race.”

CC&Rs eventually expire after a time fixed. My friend’s CC&Rs all expired in 19** (date illegible.) Well, all except the following:

“The aforesaid conditions and restrictions shall remain in full force and effect until January  (19xx), except that the restrictions referring to persons of Negro and Mongolian descent and persons not of the White or Caucasian race shall be perpetual, and any breach of the said restrictions shall cause the real property upon which such breach occurs to revert to the grantors herein, their heirs or assigns.”

Good Grief!

It seems to me that the least we should do in conveying CC&Rs is to black out these passages. Or perhaps not, as they serve to remind us how deep and persistent our prejudicial impulses can be.