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very difficult to get that
done in time.

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>> All right. Well, Barry
Burden, thanks so much.

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>> Thanks for having me.
>> In other news, to

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understand why Milwaukee
ranks as one of the most

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segregated big cities in
America, two Wisconsin

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based researchers have been
taking a close look at

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housing records and the
racially charged language

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in them. Here and now,
reporter Murv Seymour shows

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us how the Mapping, Racism
and Resistance project

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00:00:28,095 --> 00:00:31,064
inches toward the finish
line. Despite the recent

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loss of federal funding,
some viewers might find the

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language in this story
disturbing.

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>> This project is
incredible. It's important.

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It is not historical. It is
alive.

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>> From a place known as
the hub for learning.

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>> And it needs to flourish
so that we can continue to

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push back against racism
and segregation.

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>> Something historic is
happening at Milwaukee's

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downtown public Library.
>> It's one thing to say,

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oh, there's systemic racism.
It's another thing when you

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see the language.
>> It's jarring.

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>> Whites only, Caucasians
only colored people.

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>> University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee

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professors Anne Bonds and
Derek Handley have been

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busy for nearly three years.
>> These covenants cover

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housing that is now
predominantly occupied by

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African Americans in
Milwaukee.

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>> The two have been
leading an effort that

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peels back the hateful
history of racial covenants

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in Milwaukee County, and
has helped shape Milwaukee

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along racial lines. Racial
covenants a clause written

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into property deeds that
forbid the sale, least or

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occupation of a property to
a person because of their

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race, ethnicity, or
religion.

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>> We have this deep
history of racial

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and I've been wanting to
know more about it, and I

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started digging into racial
covenants.

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students, you know, why do
you think there are Black

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communities in these
different cities that you

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go in? By seeing these maps,
you can get a better

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understanding to that
question. A lot of

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Milwaukee was part of or
the Black population were

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part of the Great Migration.
They came here with hope.

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There were certainly jobs
over a period of time.

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Black people knew what
places they were not

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supposed to be.
>> After searching nearly 5

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million documents from 1910
to 1960, the Mapping Racism

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00:02:20,107 --> 00:02:23,844
and Resistance Project
found. Get this 32,506

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racial covenants blended
into the language of

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housing deeds throughout
Milwaukee County.

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certain kinds of language
words like whites only,

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Caucasians only. We knew
that terms like and colored

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and African and Ethiopian
would probably appear,

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because that's the language
that was being used at the

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time.
>> We've seen covenants

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that mention no Italians.
We've seen covenants that

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mentioned no Mexicans.
>> According to the

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research, not every racial
covenant explicitly said no

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Blacks or no colored person.
Some said white only or

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Caucasian only. And bond
says in practice, all of

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the covenants they found
targeted Black people. The

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one exception Blacks could
live in white only

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communities if they were
working there as a servant.

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>> Derrick and I could
never have identified all

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of these racial covenants
without the work with the

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community.
California, more than 6000

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volunteers, many of whom
transcribe their findings.

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They used a site called
Zooniverse to discover and

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meticulously document
racial covenants and the

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language used in them. Mary
Roberts says she became a

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transcriber because of her
passion for history.

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>> You'd have one, two,
three, four, five items of

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things that you couldn't do
on a property, and then all

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of a sudden, there it was a
racial covenant. It's one

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thing to learn in your
history books about how

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segregation happened, or to
read about the Fair Housing

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Act and to read about the
civil rights marches. But

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it was really a whole
nother experience to be

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reading property deed after
property deed after

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property deed with these
racial covenants in it.

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>> Once found, each racial
covenant is verified and

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documented by five
different people, word for

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word, regardless of its
racially discriminatory

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tone.
>> One person was so

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offended by the language
that was used in the

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covenants that they didn't
want to transcribe that

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language.
>> Some of these are like a

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they're they're a sucker
punch. People find these,

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and the general reaction is,
whoa, like, I don't I don't

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want this. I don't want to
be associated with this.

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And and for many people of
color, they encounter these.

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It's very devastating to
think about living in a

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place that was constructed
through this kind of racial

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exclusion.
has always been known

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within the Black community.
And now we have the

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evidence to show people.
>> Racial covenants

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prevented access to the
best and most well

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resourced neighborhoods.
>> We learned the story of

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the Columbia Savings and
Loan.

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00:04:59,867 --> 00:05:02,803
>> What did this bank near
North Avenue? The 16th

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Street Bridge on the south
side, a historic landmark

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to the north, and a 1950s
Wauwatosa home to the west,

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all have in common.
>> The founding of that

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institution was because of
racist housing covenants.

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>> They represent examples
of resistance in the

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Mapping, Racism and
Resistance project, located

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in the heart of what's
known as the Bronzeville

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community on fond du Lac
Avenue, this Columbia

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00:05:26,827 --> 00:05:29,530
Savings and Loan bank
rescued Black families by

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offering mortgages at a
time when white owned banks

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wouldn't. More than 100
years later, from a new

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00:05:34,835 --> 00:05:38,105
building, the bank remains
in business. Today, it's

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Wisconsin's only Black
owned bank. This historic

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landmark celebrates
Boniface and its fearless

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priest, Father James Groppi.
Groppi once led nonviolent

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civil rights marches for
200 straight days across

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the 16th Street Bridge,
which at the time was

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considered an imaginary
racial boundary between the

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predominantly Black north
side of Milwaukee and the

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then predominantly white
south side of town. And

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when you think of Wauwatosa,
Derek Handley says.

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>> Think about Zeddie Hyler
and his brothers sitting at

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night with shotguns.
>> Zeddie Hyler migrated

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from Mississippi to
worked at Milwaukee's

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downtown post office. In
1955, he became the first

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Black property owner in
Wauwatosa.

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just a very stark reminder
of what was going on during

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the day.
sharing a tiny piece of the

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story of his. Against all
odds journey to build his

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dream home in Wauwatosa.
>> He was very ambitious. I

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have photos of him, and
he's posing with an all

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white contingent of
privates, and he's the

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sergeant.
>> Mr. Hyler and his

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brothers was would sit out
there with shotguns in the

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evening to protect the
property from being from

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being vandalized. This is
Kern at the same time as

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the Montgomery Bus Boycott
in Alabama.

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>> Lora Hyler tells this
audience uncle Z was able

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00:07:00,854 --> 00:07:04,291
to build his dream home in
Wauwatosa thanks to

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00:07:04,358 --> 00:07:07,427
multicultural resistance.
The home is now considered

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00:07:07,494 --> 00:07:10,898
an historic landmark.
>> There were 37 or 39

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white women in the city of
Wauwatosa who were upset

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with the treatment that he
was receiving, showing up

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for the meetings, getting
denied, and they basically

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pulled together a petition,
which all of them signed.

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>> And he had his white
friend buy the property.

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And then after the white
friend bought the property,

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00:07:30,984 --> 00:07:35,622
he then sold it to to Z.
>> And they said, given the

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00:07:35,689 --> 00:07:38,926
Bill of rights, this man
has a right to live any

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00:07:38,992 --> 00:07:43,030
place that he can afford to.
So we demand that his

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00:07:43,096 --> 00:07:46,767
approval be granted.
>> Haley Anne Bonds say the

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history and impact of
racial covenants in

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Milwaukee is only part of
the story of segregation in

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Milwaukee. The site is
still being tweaked, but

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they encourage people to
interact with the Mapping,

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00:07:56,443 --> 00:07:58,512
Racism and Resistance
website to learn about

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00:07:58,579 --> 00:08:00,914
racial covenants in their
community.

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00:08:00,981 --> 00:08:02,983
>> You can zoom into
neighborhoods, and you can

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00:08:03,050 --> 00:08:05,986
look to see where the
racial covenants were and

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00:08:06,053 --> 00:08:09,022
what the language was, the
year that they were

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00:08:09,089 --> 00:08:11,758
implemented. We can get rid
of these in our records,

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00:08:11,825 --> 00:08:13,794
but that doesn't mean that
they haven't already done

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00:08:13,861 --> 00:08:16,230
the job that they were
meant to do.

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>> To help set the record
straight, while helping fix

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00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:21,101
housing failures of the
past, Anne Bonds says

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00:08:21,168 --> 00:08:22,936
Wisconsinites should pay
close attention to what's

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00:08:23,003 --> 00:08:25,405
happening in Washington
state, which has done

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00:08:25,472 --> 00:08:28,108
similar research.
>> There's a new state law

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00:08:28,175 --> 00:08:33,380
that allowed people to, you
know, actually pay to have

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00:08:33,447 --> 00:08:36,083
these records removed and
the funds that were raised

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00:08:36,149 --> 00:08:39,019
through that removal
process that were then

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00:08:39,086 --> 00:08:41,922
reinvested in a fund for
first time home buyers.

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00:08:41,989 --> 00:08:44,258
>> There's a lot of
generational wealth that

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00:08:44,324 --> 00:08:47,794
was that, that one whole
segment of our society was

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00:08:47,861 --> 00:08:51,164
cut off from building. We
really have to to face that

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00:08:51,231 --> 00:08:55,702
if we're going to try and
if we're going to try and