Real estate reckoning: Removing ‘master’ from listings is just one step in the fight for racial equity. Here’s what comes next.

Courtney Jones, a Chicago real estate agent and developer, has the perfect analogy for racial inequity in modern-day real estate: Picture a game of Monopoly, and then imagine that your opponent got to circle the board 400 times before you were allowed to play. “How much would that affect your ability to be successful at the game?” he said. Black people have been treated inequitably when it comes to the American dream of homeownership, as ugly practices like redlining, segregation and, to this day, inequity in lending prevent them from having the same opportunities as their white counterparts. As the country’s attention has turned to systemic racism following George Floyd’s death and nationwide protests calling for action, the movement is sparking conversations in the Chicago-area real estate industry about the need for change. “It’s just time to assist the rest of mainstream whi