Posted March 28, 2011
On March 24, the Tellez family of Chicago’s Belmont-Craigin neighborhood lead the Chicago Anti-Evictions Campaign in a march to Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office to demand criminal penalties for the banks and a moratorium on all economically motivated evictions.
The call to the march read:
It is well known that greedy banks are to blame for our economic crisis, in which 11% of all homes sit vacant, 5 million people are at least two months behind on their mortgages, HUD’s budget is being cut by 23%, unemployment is staggering and hovers around 9-10%. Yet, politicians’ solutions only further empower the banks and turn a deaf ear to the people.
Their solution: more privatization, more cuts to public services, and more threats to end worker’s rights to bargain for wages and benefits that help keep them in their homes.
Our solution: Don’t wait! Organize and unite struggles! Take back your land and your dignity!
– – – – – – – – – – – –
A lesson from the housing struggle:
The Tellez family, like countless other families, fell victim to predatory lending and were unjustly foreclosed on. However, the story didn’t end there. Rather than leaving their home to sit stagnant as another empty property amidst the sea of vacant buildings in their neighborhood, the Tellez family took matters into their own hands: they organized and took back the land!..and they won! The bank was forced to negotiate!
This is the type of action that get results! It forces politicians to listen to us. You don’t beg for a dignified life, you demand it and fight for it!
Enough is enough!
Until the people get a bail out, the bankers should only get imprisonment!
Siempre unidos, venceremos!