Events › Community conversation on racial discrimination in housing in Tucson

What are racist covenants? Why is there segregation in Tucson and what is the generational impact of segregation on education, health, and wealth accumulation? How have communities been disproportionally impacted by pollution? How are schools funded differently in different communities? We invite you to a community conversation, focused on Tucson, about the ongoing effects of racial discrimination in housing. Bring your experiences and personal perspective to this interactive conversation.

While buying a home in Tucson in 2021, University of Arizona assistant professor, Jason Jurjevich, discovered now illegal racist covenants in the deed of his new house that explicitly barred people who are Asian or Black from living in the subdivision. He tackled this professionally by researching and creating an interactive map of racist covenants in deeds and neighborhood charters in Tucson. You can find his map and look up your own neighborhood on his project page, Mapping Racist Covenants.

Victor Bowleg from the YWCA’s Center for Gender & Racial Equity will facilitate the discussion. Jason will talk about his research findings to introduce the topic, but this is not a lecture. Rather it is a community conversation where you take the lead. We will learn from each other as we explore how this issue has affected our community.

This conversation will take place twice, at two locations. Once at the Valencia Library on Saturday, September 7 (10:30-Noon) and a second time at the Woods Memorial Library on Thursday, September 12 (6:30-8:00pm) Note the location you are signing up for and register to attend in the upper right-hand corner of this page.

About our facilitators:

Victor Bowleg serves as the Program Manager for the Dr. Laura Banks-Reed Center for Gender and Racial Equity of the YWCA of Southern Arizona. He has a wealth of experience and insight in the field of Conflict Resolution and is a former Superior Court Family Mediator. In addition, he has served as an adjunct Instructor at both Pima Community College and the University of Arizona. He is active in a variety of organizations in the Tucson community. Mr. Bowleg has earned both an M.A. in Counseling and a J.D. from the University of Cincinnati College of Law.

Jason R. Jurjevich is an Assistant Professor in the School of Geography, Development & Environment at the University of Arizona. Jurjevich’s research at UArizona focuses on the socio-spatial implications of demographic change, with an emphasis on demographic storytelling and using demographic data to facilitate data-driven analysis and policy. He teaches courses in population geography, quantitative research methods, and applied demographic analysis.

Read about Jason’s work and how it inspired new legislation in Arizona.

This is an Arizona Humanities Open Minds program, Conversations for Collective Growth. This Program is made possible by the Arizona State Library, Archives, and Public Records, a division of the Secretary of State, with federal funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Sponsors of these programs include Arizona Humanities, the UA School of Geography, Development and the Environment, YWCA’s Laura Banks Reed Center for Gender & Racial Equity, and Pima County Public Library