Rob: So,
now from my understanding is you came to Pennsylvania, went to Harrisburg. You
were involved and getting things finalized and then you got yourself arrested.
Jill: That's
right. For the first time in my life I have to say.
Rob: Congratulations.
Jill: That's
right. I'm now a member of a very big club. / Yeah.
Rob: /
So, what happened?
Jill: We
have a very strong network in Pennsylvania that Cheri Honkala is very much
connected with and this is the poor people's economic justice network and they
and Cheri and the Green Party have been fighting the foreclosure crisis, which
is just raging in Philadelphia and other places around the country. So, we have
been long supporting two women and their families that have been trying to hold
onto their homes and are basically in the foreclosure process thanks to Fannie
Mae. You know, which we as tax payers basically own. They continue to throw families
out of their homes and these two women in particular had very unjust cases
against them. One had inherited the house from her mother. Yet, when her mother
died, the bank put it into foreclosure and refused to deal with her. She's a
working woman. She lives in the house. She has the ability to absorb the
mortgage, which by the way was a reverse mortgage in order to take care of the
mother's health problems in her final years. So, another example of what's
broken--that is our health care system and we're having to put our homes into
hock in order to afford health care in this unjust health care system. And then
people are getting thrown out of their homes because the banks are looking to
do that. They're looking for every excuse they can get to take possession of
the home, which was completely unjust and illegal. Every legal means has been
pursued, including efforts to change these laws and nothing has been
forthcoming.
So, we went into Fannie Mae along with a large group of supporters, had a
demonstration outside on behalf of these two homeowners and we basically went
into Fannie Mae to ask them to please sit down and bargain in good faith to
keep these homeowners in their homes and they offered to basically buy them off
for a small fee. They offered them $2000 if they would just go away, but did
not offer to really negotiate and revise their mortgage agreements and enable
them to recognize them as owners of their homes and allow them to stay. So, we
all sat down until all such a time as they would do this and five of us were
arrested, basically for trespassing.
Rob: Had
you thought ahead and planned to do this? Was this a decision that you made
ahead of time?
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