Occupy Atlanta Media Committee
For immediate release
December 6: The Occupy Movement “Goes Home”
National Day of Action to Stop (and Reverse) Foreclosures
The fight to reclaim democracy from the banks is growing from Wall Street to Main Street.
On Tuesday, December 6th Occupy Wall Street will join in solidarity with a Brooklyn, NY community to liberate a foreclosed home.
This action is part of a national kick-off for a new frontier for the occupy movement: the liberation of vacant bank-owned homes for those in need, and the defense of families under threat of foreclosure and eviction. Actions will take place in more than 25 cities across the country on Tuesday.
The banks got bailed out, but our families across America are getting kicked out.
Millions of Americans lost their homes in the Wall Street recession and one in four homeowners are currently underwater on their mortgages. The 99% is bearing the brunt of a crisis caused by Wall Street and big banks.
That’s why, all across the country, Americans have begun standing up to the banks that are trying to evict them. It’s already happened in Atlanta, Miami, San Francisco, Minneapolis, and cities and towns across the country. Now, it’s happening in Brooklyn and beyond.
Across the country, people are making eviction defense at foreclosed properties, doing takeovers of vacant properties by homeless families, and taking foreclosure action disruptions.
Wall Street and the big banks are making record profits while most Americans are struggling to stay in their homes. Banks break the law with impunity, but millions of us get served with eviction. Banks make trillions and get bailouts, while we face record unemployment and record debt.
No more! Our system has been serving Wall Street, big banks, and the one percent.
We are the 99%. We are reclaiming our democracy.
And we are reclaiming our homes.
On Tuesday December 6th Occupy Atlanta plans to disrupt the auctions of mortgages which take place on the steps of country courthouses every month. Our goal is to surround the auction and mic check the proceeding. We do not believe this action is illegal, as we are not using an amplification system. THIS ACTION IS OUR CHRISTMAS GIFT TO THE METRO ATLANTA AREA, THE GIFT OF HOUSING TO THE STRUGGLING THOUSANDS IN OUR CITY.
During these cold holiday months we can’t think of a better holiday gift to our city then stopping these auctions. Many of the homes auctioned off still have people living in them, disrupting the auction means that hundreds of metro Atlantans can continue to occupy their homes through at least January.
We are mobilizing folks for the Fulton, Gwinnett, and Dekalb court houses. We need to have people there at 9:30am, as the auctions start promptly at 10am. Below are addresses.
Fulton
136 Pryor
Atlanta, GA
At 10:30am we will be holding a press conference with Presidential medal of honor winner and dean of the civil rights movement Dr. Joseph Lowery who will be making a challenge to the nation around the foreclosure crisis.
Dekalb:
405 DeKalb County Courthouse
Decatur, GA
Gwinnett:
75 Langley Drive
Lawrenceville, GA
Contact: Deborah Storm
occupygwinnett@gmail.com
OCCUPY ATLANTA WILL ALSO BE SETTING UP PERMANENT OCCUPATION SITES AT TWO METRO ATLANTA HOMES THAT ARE CLOSE TO EVICTION IN THE ATLANTA AREA. IF THE SHERIFF PLANS TO EXECUTE EVICTION ORDERS ON EITHER HOME, THEY WILL HAVE TO GO THROUGH US FIRST.
3pm we will be holding a press conference outside the home of Valerie Jones on Glen Iris Road. Valerie’s mother passed away last week and left the home to Valerie. Valerie has been living in the home for three years with her husband and four children in an effort to take care of her mother. It is only after her mother’s death that she has learned that her mother was a victim of one of the most predatory loans we’ve ever seen.The house has been in the family since 1953. Join us at three to hear how we plan to fight for the Valerie’s home, and expose the unjust practice of predatory lending in our city.
7pm We will be holding a press conference at the home of Brigitte Walker at 2607 South Hills Dr., Riverdale, Georgia. Brigitte is a decorated Iraq war veteran who is on 90% disability as a result of an injury she sustained while serving. Her fixed income, and Chase Bank’s unwillingness to negotiate, have placed her home deep into the foreclosure process. Joining us for the 7pm press conference will be three full time Occupiers who also served in Iraq. Occupy Atlanta will not allow Chase Bank to foreclose on our wounded veterans without a fight.
yeah!!!!!
Remember, until we have justifiable debt restructure, the masses truly won’t have the resources they need to negotiate with the banks on any manner.
I think your article title is provocative, however it is also confusing. I would go with a more straight forward title.
Help save foreclosure victims by occupying the foreclosure auctions.
Additionally, I would suggest having someone monitoring the auction location and to keep an eye for the location to either change or the time to change. I’m not saying this will happen, but that would be one way to demoralize a movement, is to change either the time or the location of the auction.
JDR or bust!
@occupynews, Unless Georgia changes the law the auctions can not be held any other place or time than the County Courthouse Steps from 10-4pm on the first Tuesday of every month.
You know we’d be right on top of it if they did.
Thanks for your concern!
The symmetry of this is beautiful; the banks create a market for mortgage securities backed by CDOs, the whole thing collapses bringing the economy with it, millions lose their jobs and homes, with no place to go they occupy parks, local governments kick them off the parks, left with nothing They Occupy Foreclosed Homes But More Importantly They STOP HOME FORECLOSURES. These Non-violent acts of civil disobedience with disrupting the banks money grab and a national take back main street movement will force change!