I received this letter from Change.org and wanted to share it with my readers.
A new Chase website honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and declares: “the values he espoused are the values that JPMorgan Chase also tries to stand for around the world.”
But as the bank wraps itself in the King brand, Chase planned to kick Helen Bailey (a 78-year-old grandmother who marched for civil rights and spent her life working with disabled children) out of her house on February 15th — right in the middle of Black History Month.
Occupy Nashville is fighting back. And they know that enough publicity on Chase’s hypocrisy will embarrass the bank into letting Ms. Bailey keep her home. Nearly 50,000 Change.org members have already spoken out, and Chase moved back Ms. Bailey’s foreclosure back one month in response — more people can speak out now and stop it completely.
Helen and her attorney have struggled to find any solution that would stop Chase’s drive to foreclose. When Helen asked to modify her high-interest loan, Chase refused. When Helen found another lender who’d buy the home for just $9,000 less than what Chase said the home was worth, letting her live there for free, Chase refused. When Helen found someone else who’d buy her home and let Helen rent it, Chase refused again.
This isn’t an isolated incident. A former Chase banker — James Theckston — told Nick Kristof of the New York Times that his bank repeatedly pushed dangerous subprime mortgage loans on minority borrowers, then tried to cover up the racial disparity. Now, 25% of all minority borrowers are in foreclosure or deeply behind on payments. It’s a crisis.
But it’s one of our best opportunities to fight back. You can help Occupy Nashville keep Ms. Bailey in her home, and highlight the growing movement of communities standing up to foreclosures.
Click here to sign the petition.
Thanks for being a change-maker,
Jess and the Change.org team
P.S. Ms. Bailey isn’t alone in fighting for justice in a tough economy. Can you sign these other urgent petitions from Change.org members?
- Aaron Calafato and his wife say they’re paying about $1,200 per month in student loans, almost half of which goes to Key Bank. But they say they can’t get Key Bank to discuss lowering their monthly payments. Sign Aaron’s petition to Key Bank asking to renegotiate his student loans.
- On February 24, Daniel Lopez is going to lose his job at a warehouse where he moves goods for Walmart day in and day out. The company is allegedly firing Daniel and other employees for filing a federal lawsuit for not paying minimum wage. Sign the petition to Walmart to stop its contractor’s retaliation against its employees.
- Bobby Hull is a Vietnam-era veteran who’s fighting to save his home from foreclosure this month by US Bank. Nick Espinosa, a fellow Minneapolis resident, started a petition on Change.org to keep Bobby in his home.
