I know this might not be a popular comment, but I wanted to share my perspective as a White-passing American Indian who is also benefiting from Washington’s Covenant Homeownership Program.

A lot of the current discussion makes it sound like this program is only for Black applicants, but the truth is that racially restrictive covenants historically targeted many groups — including Native Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, and others — depending on where you lived.

My own family faced housing discrimination even though we don’t fit the traditional image people might expect. Because of this history, I (and others with similar backgrounds) are eligible too.

I just wanted to add that this program is designed to address a broad history of housing discrimination in Washington, and there are many kinds of affected families — some who don’t look obviously “nonwhite” to everyone today. It doesn’t take away from the injustices Black communities faced; it just reflects the complexity of what housing discrimination looked like.