Sample message:  Dear Wells Fargo Officials, please work out a fair deal modification for 90 Year Old Tuskegee Airman Ben Reed and his wife.  Do not auction off their home as you have planned.  Give this World War II veteran, who served this country for 30 years, a chance to live the rest of his golden years in his home and leave an inheritance for his family. 

Sincerely,

Those that have called me, have asked how did this happen?  My response is that life happens.  I don't know about the situation other than the little I heard from Occupy Bernal/ACCE Members.  The Reeds took out a loan on their home to help the daughter of another Tuskegee Airman save her home.  "The God Daughter" has since died.  There are a lot of blanks that I would not begin to try to fill.    I can see my neighbors need help.

I do know this, that it's unthinkable, it's un-American ( in the sense of the documents that make this country great)  to kick someone while they are down.  Having had imitate experience with foreclosures, I know there are simple humanitarian actions that can be taken to keep people from losing their homes.  I know the impact it can have on the heart and mind.

Thanks ACCE and Occupy Bernal for their efforts to help struggling homeowners.  See www.occupytheauctions.org for a list of others fighting to save homes.  Check out the organizations before someone you know may need them:
ACCE (http://www.calorganize.org/) and Occupy Bernal (http://www.occupybernal.org/).

When it comes to Wells Fargo, it's important to note just a few things that show the company has moved away from its moral center.

FACT:Last July Wells Fargo agreed to settle a lawsuit for $175 million with the Department of Justice last July for its discriminatory practices affecting more than 30,000 borrowers. In the words of Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez: "If you were African-American or Latino, you were more likely to be placed in a subprime loan or pay more for your mortgage loan, even though you were qualified and deserved better treatment."

 

FACT: Wells Fargo is number one in foreclosures and evictions in San Francisco. Overall, San Francisco homeowners are estimated to lose $6.9 billion in home values as a direct result of the foreclosure crisis.

 

FACT: Property tax revenue losses are estimated to be $42 million in the wake of the foreclosure crisis.

 

FACT: The typical foreclosure costs local governments more than $19,229 for increased costs of safety inspections, police and fire calls, and trash removal, and maintenance. In San Francisco, these costs are estimated to be $73.4 million. This means that the San Francisco Employees' Retirement System ($48 million in Wells Fargo) is investing in banks that are robbing them of their wealth and stealing from their public services.  

 

FACT: Wells Fargo $15.1 billion purchase of Wachovia results in the company benefiting from Wachovia Bank's Slave Trade ( http://money.cnn.com/2005/06/02/news/fortune500/wachovia_slavery/)  

  

 FACT: Wells Fargo invests in private prisons ( another form of slavery?)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/17/immigrants-wells-fargo_n_1016339.html

  

FACT: Wells Fargo Courts "Pay Day Type" Loans

http://www.trefis.com/stock/wfc/articles/153732/u-s-bancorp-wells-fargo-under-fdic-scrutiny-over-short-term-loans/2012-11-15   

   

 (See ABC-7 Report-Woman Claims Wells Fargo Set Debt Trap): http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/7_on_your_side&id=8957101 

.....There was no plan for a noisy demonstration. (MoAD received a courtesy notice in just over an hour after media advisory was sent.  Click here to read.)    We were just going to speak to the press and hand out flyers to people attending the museum, people interested in stories about Black people.  We had a story that was unfolding, making history in our time and they, the museum attendees, could be a part of it by picking up the phone to call Wells Fargo Bank to help a soldier , a Tuskegee Airman, Ben Reed, who served this country so they could have "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

 

It happened!  The clash of "Freedom of Speech," but nothing as strident as some that have occurred on the streets of San Francisco.  I had cordially spoken to the Executive Director and the PR consultant when I arrived.  As it was nearing time for the news conference, they both had left the museum, so I spoke directly to the drummers that were assembled as I gave them the flyer about our imminent action.

 

"We're going to take a few minutes to briefly speak to the press about creating a humanitarian solution to foreclosures and a Tuskegee Airman who's home is threatened to be auctioned off in a couple of days," I explained to the group of drummers.

  

In a very thick African accent and hostile tone, the woman leading the group with a cowbell, responded, "You do what you do over there.  We do what we do here.  We will play."

  

"I'm just asking that for a few minutes, let us talk to the media about this 90- year old Tuskegee Airman who could lose his home this week, if we don't do something.

  

"We are going to play.  We were hired to play.  You do what you do over there!"

 

"Are you dismissing me," I asked.   

  

"No, I am not dismissing you!" "We were hired to do this job."

  

The outrage boiled up in me as her thick African accent rolled through my ears and the sight of her 'I'm a conscious Black woman' big woolly Afro filled my eyes.   

  

"Look, let me tell you one thing," I responded in a equally stern voice.  "You would not even be here, if it were not for people like this Tuskegee Airmen who sacrificed for this country and the thousands of people with Dr. King who suffered during the Civil Rights Era."  "You...."And then I felt the pull of the back of my jacket and I went with the tow....because it was beginning to wail up big and strong, my adverse feelings about the "Motherland" that I expressed for the first time last year to  French-Cameroonian Filmmaker Jean Pierre Bekolo ( Conversations with International Film Director Jean Pierre Bekelo was posted in the San Francisco Bayview Newspaper. (http://sfbayview.com/2012/conversation-with-international-film-director-jean-pierre-bekolo/).  

"Africans sold us out!"  There could not have been a slave trade without African duplicity and direct involvement.   As a result, I personally never had that euphoric endearing feeling about visiting "the Motherland."  I did add that my stance had somewhat softened.

  

Before me was an African immigrant getting in the way of a message to help a descendant of former slaves on the very day we honor a leader that is a descendant of former slaves, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.   May I note here, President Barack Obama, a Black man, is not a descendant of former slaves, although his wife bears the blood of those who suffered cruelly for generations as slaves.

  

My fellow foreclosure colleagues reassured me that the drummers were not hired by MoAD as a tactic to "manage the protest," (thinking our protest was going to be loud and wild as demonstrations in San Francisco can be).  The drumming entertainment was probably already planned.  "Let's just focus on the message and do the best if any media shows up given everything that's going on today," said SF Filmmaker, Jacquie Taliaferro, who repeated and reinforced our fellows' calming message to me.

 

So the drummers drummed on and all I could think of was a Johnny Weismuller "Tarzan" film.  Just before the Africans attacked the drums began... drumming through the night... wearing down the intruders.  In this case, the African led drummers were intruding and I focused on the business at hand, standing for a cause in the face of that awkward resistance of a benign face that looks like you but impedes the way.  No wonder there is  "the God of our silent tears" that James Weldon Johnson wrote about.

 

The experience with the drummers in front of MoAD reinforced for me the sacredness of the battle with Wells Fargo Bank.  As I mentioned to assembled media (KPFA, Channels 2 and 11), "We stand in front of MoAD to support Tuskegee Airman Ben Reed and others who are in danger of losing their homes.  We point out that on one hand, Wells Fargo gives pennies to Arts organizations like MoAD to appear to be as a good citizen and on the other they are committing bank robbery stealing the homes of Americans.  Wells Fargo Bank has moved away from its moral center.  There can be a humanitarian solution to foreclosure.".... For Complete Commentary CLICK HERE.  

 

After Helping Ben Reed by Making Phone Calls and Speaking with Media about His Story,

Larry Faulks, now homeless, Shared His Dream About His  

Family Home on MoAD's Sidewalk Chalk Board During

Free Museum Day Activity. 

 

Wherever you are in the Bay Area or any other part of the country or world, you can help.  

 

ACTION FLYER HAS PHONE NUMBERS TO CALL TO HELP BENJAMIN AND I LEE MURPHY REED'S FAMILY!

Jackie Wright Speaks at Occupy Wells Fargo at MOAD on Martin Luther King Jr Day, January 21, 2013

 

Larry Faulks Speaks at  Occupy Wells Fargo at MOAD on Martin Luther King Jr Day, January 21, 2013

Ed Donaldson Speaks at Occupy Wells Fargo at MOAD on Martin Luther King Jr Day, January 21, 2013

Dr. King told the AFL-CIO in 1961, "Our needs are identical with labor's needs: Decent wages, fair working conditions, livable housing, old-age security, health and welfare measures, conditions in which families can grow, have education for their children, and respect in the community."

 

"I freed thousands of slaves. I could have freed thousands more, if they had known they were slaves." Harriett Tubman

 

Whether MoAD's actions were intentional or not, they are worthy along with other Arts organizations to receive more financial support from Wells Fargo Bank and the general public.

 

I do hope it was a case of them hiring "rude musicians." 

 

Humbly Submitted!

 

Jackie Wright

 

 

 

Articles of Interest   

 

As racism played a major role in the mortgage crisis, this New York Times Article although not on the mortgage crisis, is interesting-Reverend Greggory Brown of Oakland is quoted:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/21/us/politics/blacks-see-new-patience-and-high-expectations-for-obama.html?ref=todayspaper

 

Pastor Calls for Help/ Open Letter to Faith Leaders-USE POWER AGAINST FORECLOSURES

 http://www.wrightnow.biz/apps/articles/default.asp?articleid=78091&columnid=

 

"Django" and "Lincoln," Do they Call for Reparations?

http://www.wrightnow.biz/apps/articles/default.asp?articleid=78056&columnid=

 

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