Occupy-Backed Homeowner Monique White Wins Loan Modification, Keeps House

Embattled North Minneapolis homeowner Monique White has won a long-sought loan modification from her original lender, US Bank. The improbably victory followed a nearly six-month long battle that the African-American single working mother fought with the help of the Occupy Homes movement, which crescendoed when she approached US Bank CEO Richard Davis at the bank’s annual shareholders meeting in April. This is the second major victory that Occupy Homes has notched in Minneapolis. Former Marine Bobby Hull also won the right to keep his home on the south side.

White will now pay approximately $200 less per month on her home. Last week, she received a phone call from US Bank Vice President Bill Parker informing her that the bank had found a sum that would work for White to keep her North Minneapolis home. “He said, ‘Will $616.36 work for you?’ And I said ‘yes’. I am just so happy.” Days after confronting CEO Davis and landing a promise that Vice President Parker would help her, White had a scheduled court date that was to determine her fate: eviction or loan modification. Now she has a new loan term that begins in July.

“US Bank set the bar really high for all the other banks who say they cannot re-negotiate loans to families facing foreclosure,” said Anthony Newby, an organizer with Neighborhoods Organizing for Change. “Occupy Homes has said all along that this is what we want: to figure out a way to keep families in their homes and communities.”

Cement Encased Occupy Home Defenders Risk Life And Limb

How far would you go to protect a homeowner from being evicted?

Occupy Homes activists defending Alejandra and David Cruz’s foreclosed home in South Minneapolis have built an elaborate if not provocative home defense system to stop police from evicting the Latino family. They say they won’t leave until either PNC Mortgage or Freddie Mac renegotiates the mortgage.

At both the front and back doors, activists have planted a bucket filled with cement, save for a pipe that stretches through its midsection. Two activists sit on either side of the bucket with their arms chained together inside the pipe.

“If you pulled on me and tried to yank me out of there, the best you could really do would be to break my arm,” said an Occupy activist named Randall.

Occupy Wins Home in North Minneapolis, Defends Latino Home in South

“My parents had to work so hard for this house,” teary-eyed Alejandra Cruz told an Occupy Homes rally this week. “It’s unjust for the banks to take away our dream. My parents brought us here really young, and we’ve learned how to fight against injustice ever since we came to this country. It’s been a struggle for us every single day since we got here.”

Alejandra and her brother David, two Minneapolis college students and activists for the Dream Act, took the Occupy Homes pledge this week to stay in the house which their Mexican immigrant parents purchased and are in danger of losing to foreclosure. They are among the first Latinos in the Twin Cities to take the Occupy Homes pledge and defy the banks.

This week Occupy Homes notched another major victory when US Bank helped embattled North Minneapolis homeowner Monique White renegotiate her mortgage. White, an African-American single mother who works two jobs, was the first person who appealed to Occupy Homes for help, last November. … Continue Reading

Occupy’s Right To Occupy To Get Public Hearing

On Wednesday May 2, the Minneapolis City Council will hold a public hearing over the resolution proposed by Council President Barb Johnson that critics say would restrict Occupy Minneapolis’ right to gather at Peavy Plaza and other public spaces controlled by the City. At a committee meeting on April 18, during which several Occupy activists were permitted to speak, the City was accused not just of curbing the right to free speech and free assembly, but of forsaking Minneapolis’ homeless population.

“If you’re not going to provide shelters for homeless veterans, and yet there are members of this City Council who want to spend millions of dollars for a bailout for the Vikings, there’s an incongruity there,” said an activist named Lee.

“Peavey Plaza is one of the few safe places that homeless people such as myself can go to have a good night’s rest without having to worry about rapists or thieves,” echoed Occupy activist Xman Dee. … Continue Reading

Tom Morello Receives Hillman Award for Supporting Madison, Occupy Protests

Rage Against the Machine musician and activist Tom Morello, who played for and inspired demonstrators in front of the Wisconsin State Capitol during the workers’ rights uprising last year, will receive a special public service award at the annual 2012 Hillman Prizes ceremony on May 1 in New York City. Previous awards have gone to such figures as Eleanor Roosevelt, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr. and Harry Belafonte.

Last year, Morello also performed at Occupy Wall Street protests in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver. He donated the proceeds from his Justice Tour concerts in Madison, Flint, Mich., and Cleveland to the Nation Institute.

“Tom Morello’s work in pursuing social and economic justice — and in telling the stories of working men and women — is exemplary and inspiring,” said Bruce Raynor, president of the Sidney Hillman Foundation. “Tom’s music, energy and leadership brings attention to causes that matter and inspires others to become more active on the public commons. In the words of another American songwriter, there’s a battle outside and it’s ragin’ — and almost any time we look, there’s Tom Morello right out in front.”

More video: GRITtv’s Laura Flanders interviews Morello in Madison last February … Continue Reading

Occupy-Backed Homeowner Facing Eviction Confronts US Bank CEO

They were an unlikely pair for an impromptu, but long-awaited, meeting. He, Richard Davis, is the wealthy CEO of US Bank, among the largest banks in the nation. She, Monique White, is a North Minneapolis homeowner and single mother who works two jobs (one, a night shift at a liquor store) while she tries to avoid being evicted from the foreclosed home that her late father helped her purchase. That could come as soon as May 5.

White’s mortgage is currently in the hands of lender Freddie Mac, but US Bank originally serviced the mortgage, and Occupy Homes activists who came to her defense last November (and slept on her floor and pitched tents outside for weeks) have targeted US Bank as the actor that, they believe, could renegotiate the terms of White’s mortgage and keep her in the home. Occupy Homes activists twice marched to Richard Davis’ house in Minneapolis and staged rallies outside.

Then on April 17 (Tax Day 2012) — with White’s final court date less than three weeks away — Occupy and other activist groups focused on economic justice successfully infiltrated US Bank’s shareholder’s meeting at the Minneapolis Convention Center. During a shareholder question and answer session, White peppered Davis with questions about why US Bank hasn’t done more to help keep her in her home, and why the bank has taken part in perpetrating the foreclosure crisis even after it was bailed out by the federal government. “Banks got bailed out, we got sold out!” is a common rally cry of the Occupy Homes movement. Listen to audio of White’s shareholder questions to Davis here. Her questions begin at the 4:20 mark.

White invited Davis to visit her house in North Minneapolis, and added that the house across the street from her’s, which also went through foreclosure, was sold for just $9,000. “I’m not asking for a handout, I’m just asking you to meet me halfway and re-negotiate my loan to make it affordable for me at the income that I’m making right now, or stretch my mortgage out longer,” White recalled asking Davis. … Continue Reading

“US Bank and Wells Fargo Throw Families onto the Street”

“If US Bank and Wells Fargo truly care about this community, why are they so intent to throw families out on the street, and empty the neighborhoods of Minneapolis,” asked SEIU activist Mark Freeman at a spirited Tax Day rally in front of Wells Fargo’s headquarters.

Meanwhile, activists with Minnesotans for a Fair Economy, homeowners who have taken the Occupy Homes pledge to stay in their foreclosed properties, and Somali Americans who are unable to transfer money to families in their war-torn homeland, successfully penetrated US Bank’s shareholders meeting at the Minneapolis Convention Center. They peppered CEO Richard Davis with demands that US Bank pay more in taxes and negotiate with homeowners facing foreclosure whose mortgages are or were at one time controlled by US Bank.

Pressure on big banks working … Continue Reading

Minneapolis City Council Upholds Occupy’s Right to Protest

By a 9-4 vote, the Minneapolis City Council voted against a resolution that would have effectively banned Occupy protesters from gathering in public plazas and parks after midnight without permits and given the police more power to crack down on demonstrations.

In lieu of striking the measure down outright, they sent it back to the Public Safety, Civil Rights and Health committee, which will discuss the measure on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. Activists and other citizens will likely have the right to comment.

“I object to a city council that would attempt to pass an ordinance without a public hearing,” said council member Gary Schiff. “Particularly an ordinance that calls for new penalties, new citations, new actions by our police department. If we’re going to change those rules, let’s have a fair, open transparent public process.”

“It’s a solution in search of a problem,” said council member Betsy Hodges, who was among the nine opposed to Johnson’s measure.

Meanwhile, activists in the room silently wagged their fingers in the air — a telltale tool of the Occupy Wall Street movement — in support of the council’s challenge to Johnson’s measure.

Surprise legislation to stifle free speech shows Occupy is angering political leaders. … Continue Reading

Occupy Confronts Mayor Over Police “Ambush”, Calls For His Ouster

After a loud persistent demonstration at Minneapolis Mayor R. T. Rybak’s office on April 9, 2012, the mayor agreed to meet with Police Chief Tim Dolan and the representatives of Occupy Minneapolis on April 10, 2012. The group was mostly quiet and more disciplined that the demonstration the day before. Before meeting the organizers asked the group to be silent as possible and “more civil.”

It was a tense confrontation. The Occupy speakers presented specific complaints asking for a yes or no answer. Sam Richards, one of those arrested said, “For a mayor who is often lauded as a champion progressive, it’s slightly shocking how quiet you’ve been on this issue.”

Others questioned the allocation of such massive force, the attacks by the police and the general problem of police actions against the African American Community.

The responses by the mayor and the chief were mostly, “If you have evidence present us to the mayor’s office or the police department.” When repeatedly pressed if he condemned police violence, the mayor responded, “I already have.”

Mayor wants the evidence … Continue Reading

Sheriff’s Sale Victory For “Occupy” Homeowner In US Bank Foreclosure Battle

John and Lucinda Vinje risked losing their Bloomington, Minn., home to a sheriff’s sale this week after it went through foreclosure. But the Occupy Homes movement, which has come to their defense, staged a spirited rally Monday morning at the Hennepin County Government Center and at Minneapolis City Hall to defend the Vinje home. Occupy activists made it clear to any potential buyers that if you acquire the home, the demonstrators come with it.

“We’re gonna let any potential buyer know that when they buy John Vinje’s house, they’re not just buying a house, they’re buying a serious problem for themselves,” said Occupy Homes activist Ty Moore. “They’re buying a homeowner who says he’s not leaving, and they’re buying a social movement that says we’re going to defend John and homeowners like him.”

Ultimately, no buyers showed up — giving John Vinje a likely six-week window of opportunity to negotiate with U.S. Bank. The Air Force veteran, security guard and union activist with SEIU declared victory with a defiant speech in the basement of City Hall.

“So, we’ve been putting pressure on U.S. Bank for five and a half months,” he told Occupy activists. “You know what? They finally buckled. We got until the end of May now to sit down with them and talk about getting the mortgage loan fixed.”

“Not only did we win for my wife and I today. But this sets a precedent for every other homeowner across the state of Minnesota. Don’t let these big banks scare you by saying they’re gonna take you to a sheriff’s sale. We were backed into a corner and you know who buckled? It’s not us, it’s them! They have seen the power of the 99 percent and they don’t want to mess with the 99 percent.” … Continue Reading