Martin Luther King and Real touches my life every day. This man along with the legislation that took place while President Johnson was in office, changed to whom real estate can be sold. Federal laws specifically state that Realtors cannot red line or direct where people can or cannot live. There are testers in the community checking regularly to make certain Realtors do not practive discrimination. Federal laws state that a person can buy real estate wherever they want and cannot be descriminated against by the race, color, creed, sexual preference, or physical limitations. About 12 years ago I was helping a couple buy a single family home in West Bloomington. He was from Africa and wrote music. She was from Mississippi and was a urologist at the University of Minnesota. They had a bright 12 year old son and wanted to make sure he got into a school district that would meet his educational needs. I saw them as a family. I was surprised when they found a house they wanted to buy ,and they had a concern the neighborhood would not like them because of their race. I was heart broken for them. She told me that being raised in Mississippi, she could not think any other way. I took them with me one Saturday morning and rang the door bells of the houses around the neighborhood. I introduced them as a family interested in buying into the neighborhood and asked the homeowners to talk to the buyers about the community. It was a positive morning and this family has lived happily in this neighborhood since. We can create laws to attempt to remove prejudices, but it is the people that live daily in our communities that practive those theories. Happy Birthday to a man who had the strength to say with a quite voice, we shall over come
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