YOU HAVE THE POWER TO CHANGE
THE FORECLOSURE CRISIS LANDSCAPE
Bishop Watkins in Oakland Calls for Help with Foreclosure.
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Bishop J. E. Watkins youth media program featured on CBS 5 Jefferson's Award threatened by foreclosure. "Overcomers With Hope" asked to move out Marcus Garvey Liberty Hall by 2/2/13. Program is in 4th year of a 10 year lease.
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Correspondence received from Bishop
J.E. Watkins today, 1/18/2013 demonstrates that not only homeowners and
renters in homes are affected by the foreclosure crisis. Ministries are
being affected as well and other businesses. This foreclosure
crisis is negatively changing the fabric of our society in ways we have
yet to determine. Little is being said about the physical and emotional
toll, the broken marriages and displaced children and elders. The
focus is usually the numbers-what is owed the banks, the number of homes
in foreclosures, but the life-altering impact is not being discussed to
the degree it should. The Marcus Garvey Liberty Hall Building
in Oakland, where Bishop Watkins leases, has been foreclosed on and are
being required to move by February 2, 2013. Please read the letter asking for your support.Here's a link to petition you can sign. Please
reach out to Bishop Watkins, if you can help. His correspondence
coming a day after the letter penned yesterday, adds to the urgency for
people of faith to stand together and take action. Sincerely, Jackie Wright
December story in SF Bayview Newspaper
HBUC- (Historically Black Colleges) Post
OPEN LETTER TO RELIGIOUS LEADERS
January 17, 2013
Dear Religious Leaders,
You
are powerful! First, let me thank you for all the work you do. You
impact is immeasurable. Be that as it may, our society should do more
to acknowledge your good work and tremendous influence. Even with crime
being what it is, the problems in the area of finances, education,
health and all aspects of society, things would be a lot worse, if you
were not on the job making the difference that you make oftentimes with
great personal sacrifice. Thank you!
I
am writing you to ask your congregation and any religious body you are
associated with to consider the current financial crisis as an
opportunity for the religious community to step up and make a dramatic
difference in the saving of homes and families. Why not join the forces of your members, your congregation and your governing body to save homes. Begin with your membership. Collect
special offerings to raise funds to help people going through
foreclosures. Add to those funds by outreaching to businesses,
corporations and individuals outside of your congregations. Follow up
with foundations to assistance. Once you have a pool of money help the
people you can within your group. As you get stronger, you can reach
out others. Additionally,
congregations within a particular zip code or neighborhood can work
together to save homes in within their zone, block by block. As
you are fundraising to get money to help your congregation, and your
neighborhood, intervene with the banks and financial serving companies
on behalf of the homeowners to let the financial institutions know you
have plans to assist your people and ask that they delay evicting your
people from their homes. A moratorium can make all the difference in
the world. By giving people time, they can oftentimes work out their
own solutions. Banks
have the power to reduce principals and rework loans. Ask that they do
so as you are working with your people to make payment. I humbly submit an idea that can add to your efforts called "Kinsman Redeemer,"
for those parishioners/members that are having problems with cash flow,
maybe they can yield a room or two for social services to generate
money to pay the banks. Maybe they can rent out their house for a while
and live in an affordable rental (if one can be found. In San Francisco
the waiting lists are closed and it can take years to even apply). The
idea that came about with my sister, Phyllis Cameron, who works in real
estate and insurance, is one that I spoke about in 2004 with now late
journalist Chauncey Bailey when he interviewed me as the new public affairs manager at CBS5/CW Bay Area. The
religious community is equipped to pull together resources from
government and private companies and individuals to forge a model or
models to give relief to Americans. It may call for working outside of
denominations and comfort zones. There's
much to say, but I do not want this to be too lengthy of a
correspondence. Check out Greenlining Institute's report on Foundation
giving to minority lead nonprofits. Did you see the report by ABC 7's Michael Finney "7 on Your Side" 6:00 p.m. news yesterday about Wells
Fargo's equivalent of a "pay day loan," that kept a woman on a fixed
Social Security income in financial bondage for 5 years. When media organizations report the truth there can be consequences. Please take a moment to write and congratulate ABC 7 for courage to report that story (7oys@kgo-tv.com or write comment in general webpage box.
Media are oftentimes dealing with the threat of not getting
advertising from companies they report the the unfavorable truth about.
Someone must watch the watchdog of government and report when the get
it wrong and affirm them when they get it right. The impact of TV News
is serious according to UCLA Law Professor Dr. Jerry Kang in "Trojan Horses of Race." Here
are some links to consider as time allows. There are many others that
show the state of this country's financial crisis quagmire. Bank Deal Ends Flawed Reviews of Foreclosures-January 10, 13-New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/business/bank-deal-ends-flawed-reviews-of-foreclosures.html More Questions About Mortgage Relief http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/23/opinion/more-questions-on-mortgage-relief.html 9 ways feds bungled foreclosure crisis http://money.msn.com/now/post.aspx?post=1c2eec00-60af-4ec1-81c2-33777f65ef7a Immigrants To Wells Fargo: Stop Investing In For-Profit Detention http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/17/immigrants-wells-fargo_n_1016339.html Wachovia Admits Profits from Slavery http://money.cnn.com/2005/06/02/news/fortune500/wachovia_slavery/ FBI-Charlotte Bureau: Former Wells Fargo Investment Banker and Co-Conspirators Chargedhttp://www.fbi.gov/charlotte/press-releases/2012/former-wells-fargo-investment-banker-and-co-conspirators-charged-with-11-million-insider-trading-conspiracy U.S. Bank laundered billions from Mexico's murderous drug gangs http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/03/us-bank-mexico-drug-gangs Morally,
the call for help is clear. Evil corruption has crept into our banking
and financial systems. "Greed, for the lack of a better word is
Good,"-"Wall Street," the movie called the times we live in. | Gordon Gekko -Greed is Good-"Wall Street"(:45 Seconds) | Did
you see the report by CBS on January 10, 2010-reporting on the new
mortgage laws? CBS weaved in the old lie that the mortgage holders who
could not repay their loans are responsible for the financial crisis. Judeo-Christian
principles that are the basis for the U.S. legal system are clear.
People should not be put in a state of bondage. That's why there are
laws about usury in the scriptures and the concept of Jubilee-property
returning back to families every 50 years.... So the same people will
not remain poor for generations. For
Christians, there is a clarion call from James and Revelation that
indicates we should be warning the bankers that they will reap what they
sow. And as they will reap, it's important that we shield the people
that they took advantage of and/or misled. James 5:1-6 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James+5%3A1-6&version=NIV Revelation 18:9-12 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2018:9-12&version=KJV I write to you as a concerned citizen, community leader, foreclosure fighter and media activist. My
ideas are not the end all be all. You may have far more advanced plans
at work (please share what you are doing by sending your foreclosure
related programs to my personal account: 1jackiewright@gmail.com) I put my ideas on the table to share and stimulate more action. Sincerely, Jackie Wright
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Part VII of Occupy Bernal Forum on Fight for Affordable Housing
on November 29, 2012, San Francisco.
Jackie Wright presented "Kinsman Redeemer" idea to State Assemblyman
Tom Ammiano (caution Ammiano's response includes an expletive that's not
deleted.)
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