Bush's New Dallas Neighborhood Barred Non-Whites Until 2000

Posted on Huffington Post on December 8, 2008:

As was reported this week, George Bush has bought a new house in a wealthy part of Dallas, called Preston Hollow, to live in after he leaves office. Preston Hollow homeowners are used to having well-known neighbors; the area is already home to Dallas Mavericks' owner Marc Cuban and former presidential candidate Ross Perot.

While many of the Bushes' new neighbors seem perfectly happy and excited to welcome the former first couple, a few of them, reports the Wall Street Journal, have some significant reservations: "The impending presence of a former President is ratcheting up security fears. 'I am afraid with all the negative press the president has been getting, the whole neighborhood is going to be a target,' said a woman, who wouldn't give her name. She carried her King Charles spaniel Friday past the Bushes' new abode."

But Raw Story reports that the area had some issues long before Bush made it his new home. Until 2000, the neighborhood association's covenant said only white people were allowed to live there, though an exception was made for servants.

Enacted in 1956, part of the original document reads: "Said property shall be used and occupied by white persons except those shall not prevent occupancy by domestic servants of different race or nationality in the employ of a tenant." The entire covenant is available in PDF format via the Raw Story link.

When asked about his new home in an interview with The Dallas Morning News, Bush "played coy" in response to Tod Gillman's question. "Todd, why do you care?" Bush responded. "You live in Washington, D.C."