OCCUPY DETROIT TARGETS BANK OF AMERICA

 Protests result in at least one loan modification, attorney says; BOA, largest U.S. bank, under federal order to review all loans for illegality 

By Diane Bukowski 

October 24, 2011 

DETROIT – “Immediately after the Occupy Detroit marches on the Bank of America’s downtown headquarters Oct. 18 and 21, BOA contacted Moratorium NOW! attorneys relative to stopping the eviction of a homeowner who’s been fighting BOA for four years,” attorney Jerry Goldberg told VOD Oct. 24. “They are offering to place him in a loan modification program to save his home.” 

Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan said in a broadcast on Chicago’s WVON-AM radio the same day that the Occupy marches across the country represent the first time people have gathered nationally en masse to march on the banks, lauding their stand. 

Keisha Newburn with daughter Divine Angel marches at BOA Oct. 18; she said her grandmother was "destroyed" by the loss of her home

“The banks got bailed out, we got sold out,” hundreds of protesters chanted outside BOA both days. They had marched from the Occupy Detroit site in Grand Circus Park down Woodward Avenue to target BOA.  “Shame, shame, shame!” 

“My grandmother lost her home after 21 years,” said Keisha Newburn, who brought her baby Divine Angel Newburn in her stroller on the Oct. 18 march. “It destroyed her. That was 21 years of watching her grandkids grow up in that house. I was raised there. Detroiters have got to come together in more protests to stop foreclosures. All the banks are doing is letting the vacant homes go to waste in the neighborhoods.” 

The Oct. 18 march served as a press conference to announce the Oct. 21 action. At least three times more protesters showed up Oct. 21. (See video above.)

Young Occupy marchers are rising up directly against capitalism

Many signs carried by the marchers condemned the capitalist system, a characteristic of Occupy actions across the country as people of all races, sexes and ages become aware that their suffering is directly related to the global economic crisis caused by the greed of the corporations and the banks. 

Major media coverage of the marches was broad. Reporters and TV crews who arrived at the 12 noon time set for the Oct. 18 press conference waited anxiously outside the BOA offices in the Guardian Building for a half-hour as marchers made their way to the site. 

Attorney Jerome Goldberg of Moratorium NOW! talks to Channel Four reporter

“Bank of America is the largest bank in the country,” Goldberg told the media as they waited. “They took over Countrywide and Merrill Lynch and have laid waste to poor and working class communities nationally. Bank of America and all the banks have been guilty of massive fraud in carrying out foreclosures. As a result, they are now under a federal order to review every one of their foreclosures for illegal activity.” 

The Federal Reserve system lists the Bank of America, headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., at the top of all the country’s banks in terms of assets. As of June 30, 2011, BOA had $2,264,435,837 in assets according to their National Information Center website at http://www.ffiec.gov/nicpubweb/nicweb/top50form.aspx. 

Bank of America takes mortgage payments and forecloses anyway

In a letter to Detroit BOA president Brian Moynihan, Occupy Detroit demanded that the bank immediately implement a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions. 

“Bank of America received $45 billion in federal TARP bailout funds,” says the letter. “It continues to be bailed out by the federal government through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which guarantee $2.1 trillion in Bank of America loans, many of which were fraudulent and as a result are in default. Bank of America and its affiliate Countrywide signed contracts to receive over $7 billion in additional taxpayer funds to modify loans and keep families in their homes, but continues to refuse to modify loans and keep families in their homes.” 

Marcher demands end to U.S. wars, bring troops AND federal dollars home to rebuild cities

The Moratorium-MI coalition has been fighting the foreclosure Katrina for at least five years, demanding that the state legislature and governors declare a moratorium on all foreclosures, evictions and utility shut-offs for at least two years.   

The Coalition’s banners demand that U.S. President Barack Obama take action through executive orders, bypassing Congress. Many excuse Obama’s lack of action, saying that Congress ties his hands. Notably, there is a survey on Chicago’s WVON website at http://www.wvon.com/ asking “Should Pres. Obama use Executive Order privileges to help Mainstreet, in spite of GOP gridlock?” Over 85 percent of responders checked “yes.” 

“Today the federal government, through its takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac along with the Federal Housing Authority, owns at least 75 of all mortgage loans,” the coalition says on its website at http://www.moratorium-mi.org/ .

Detroit, over 86 percent Black, is one of the cities hardest hit by foreclosures

“It’s time for the federal government to bail out the people and not the banks.  President Obama should immediately declare a two year moratorium on all foreclosures and evictions, during which times the loans could be renegotiated to their real value, with the banks eating the losses for the fraud they practiced.  Rather than selling off government owned housing to investors and sharks, the government should train our youth to rebuild these homes and reoccupy them with the millions of homeless and unemployed.” 

A Bank of America customer uses a Bank of America ATM in Charlotte, North Carolina May 11, 2011. REUTERS/Chris Keane

Bank of America has additionally earned the wrath of its customers for enacting a $5 monthly fee beginning next year, for customers who use their debit cards to make purchases. Currently, debit card withdrawals from other bank machines are tagged with individual fees by BOA and other banks, but purchases made at retail outlets such as gas stations and drug stores are not tagged.

To keep abreast of Occupy Detroit activities, go to its website at http://occupy.detroit.us , its Twitter site at http://twitter.com/#/OccupyDetMI, or its Facebook site at http://www.facebook.com/groups/272548539433526/. Also, information for Occupy the Hood, which seeks to bring communities of color into the struggle, is at

Marchers pack the sidewalk outside BOA HQ in Guardian Building Oct. 18