![Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. is shown with Rev. Dr. John E. Roberts, pastor of Indiana Avenue M.B.C., and local NAACP President WilliAnn Moore.
Address foreclosure crisis, Jackson saysBy: Journal StaffThe Toledo JournalOriginally posted 12/1/2009 Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. says Toledo ministers should take the lead in local efforts for what he hopes will become a nationwide groundswell of protest against the banking system and a ”restructuring” that will resolve the home foreclosure crisis.”Mass action, mass education, mass change,” Rev. Jackson said Monday, Nov. 23, during a stop in Toledo, where he also visited the West Toledo home of a woman going through foreclosure. ”If you’ve got 10,000 people marching down the street, the [news] cameras will be there. … Our strength is in our linkage.”Rev. Jackson spoke at Indiana Avenue Missionary Baptist Church before an audience of about 120 invited ministers, government officials, agency leaders and education officials. He later visited the Latonia Avenue home of Kim Bowers, 36, whose serious medical problems were followed by the loss of her job last January.Ms. Bowers, who is single and has no children, has owned the home for 11 years. She said her lender has promised to pull its foreclosure lawsuit if she pays $5,800 by the end of this month.”I don’t know why they think I can come up with that when I can’t make the [regular] payments,” she said.Rev. Jackson, who earlier visited Detroit – another city reeling from record foreclosures – used the term ”banksters” to describe bank officials that he said brought on the housing crisis but ended up getting bailed out by the federal government.”As opposed to facing congressional hearings on schemes and scams, they’re being rewarded,” he said. ”The banksters wanted to maximize profits at the expense of the national interests. They used their powers to overwhelm the system and to rob people legally.”People were given false promises by banks. Teaser rates. The systematic schemes have made [bankers] millions,” he added. ”That’s gangsterism.”Rev. Jackson noted that Ohio had 86,000 foreclosures in 2008, and that similar skyrocketing numbers are being reported across the nation. Currently, one in every 150 Lucas County homes is in foreclosure. And since 2000, foreclosures have affected more than 10 percent of the county’s housing stock, said Commissioner Tina Skeldon Wozniak.Rev. Jackson said foreclosures can be an embarrassing or humiliating experience, and that too many people ”suffer in silence” rather than rising up collectively to demand a restructuring of the mortgage lending industry.”We must restructure loans and stop repossessing homes,” he said.”We’re treating a storm like it is an April shower. This is not a spring shower. This is a profound economic depression.”He noted that the crisis that began with the subprime loan sector now has spread into the prime market. Housing values have plummeted, stripping struggling local governments of much-needed property taxes. And he criticized American car companies whose response to federal bailouts of their own was to close factories, toss people out of work and send production overseas.”We cannot stop the hemorrhaging of jobs until we have a reindustrialization policy to put Americans back to work,” he said.Ms. Bowers, who was contacted beforehand by aides of Rev. Jackson, said she asked her lender to restructure her mortgage payments after incurring expensive medical bills in October 2008. The lender reneged after she told them last January about losing her job to downsizing, she said.”I’ve never been in this situation. I didn’t know what to do,” she said.She had to wait three months before unemployment benefits kicked in, she said. She’s cashed in a 401(k), depleted her savings and has been selling household items to try to get by, Ms. Bowers said.On the brighter side, she recently interviewed for a job that she says fits her skills perfectly and is optimistic about getting the offer. ”I’m so close to being okay.”Rev. Jackson’s visit was arranged by U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who at the breakfast meeting at Indiana called the civil rights leader ”a beacon of hope to people around the world” and ”an inspiring, courageous and enduring voice” for the poor and disadvantaged.Rev. Jackson received the Distinguished Citizen Award from WilliAnn Moore, president of the local NAACP branch. Mrs. Moore, who called Rev. Jackson one of the greatest African American leaders in history, said the NAACP will be partnering with the local faith community on the foreclosure crisis.Rev. Jackson said President Obama is ”doing well” after nearly a year in office, but did not bring up the president during his address nor in an interview beforehand. He said it is urgent that the federal government pass ”Stimulus II” legislation that invests in America ”from the ground up.””For people on the ground, nothing has happened yet,” he said.Before leaving Toledo, Rev. Jackson addressed students at Woodward High School, where he discussed the importance of education and civic participation.Mrs. Moore, meanwhile, has known Rev. Jackson for many years. Several years ago, after she received a death threat, he dispatched aides from his headquarters in Chicago to Toledo to guard her.”Rev. Jackson is very special to me,” Mrs. Moore said. ”I’m extremely proud of him and I feel extremely honored that he would come to Toledo, Ohio.”](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kuebyu3hQg1qznr66o1_250.jpg)
Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. is shown with Rev. Dr. John E. Roberts, pastor of Indiana Avenue M.B.C., and local NAACP President WilliAnn Moore.
Address foreclosure crisis, Jackson says
By: Journal Staff
The Toledo Journal
Originally posted 12/1/2009
Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. says Toledo ministers should take the lead in local efforts for what he hopes will become a nationwide groundswell of protest against the banking system and a ”restructuring” that will resolve the home foreclosure crisis.
”Mass action, mass education, mass change,” Rev. Jackson said Monday, Nov. 23, during a stop in Toledo, where he also visited the West Toledo home of a woman going through foreclosure. ”If you’ve got 10,000 people marching down the street, the [news] cameras will be there. … Our strength is in our linkage.”
Rev. Jackson spoke at Indiana Avenue Missionary Baptist Church before an audience of about 120 invited ministers, government officials, agency leaders and education officials. He later visited the Latonia Avenue home of Kim Bowers, 36, whose serious medical problems were followed by the loss of her job last January.
Ms. Bowers, who is single and has no children, has owned the home for 11 years. She said her lender has promised to pull its foreclosure lawsuit if she pays $5,800 by the end of this month.
”I don’t know why they think I can come up with that when I can’t make the [regular] payments,” she said.
Rev. Jackson, who earlier visited Detroit – another city reeling from record foreclosures – used the term ”banksters” to describe bank officials that he said brought on the housing crisis but ended up getting bailed out by the federal government.
”As opposed to facing congressional hearings on schemes and scams, they’re being rewarded,” he said. ”The banksters wanted to maximize profits at the expense of the national interests. They used their powers to overwhelm the system and to rob people legally.
”People were given false promises by banks. Teaser rates. The systematic schemes have made [bankers] millions,” he added. ”That’s gangsterism.”
Rev. Jackson noted that Ohio had 86,000 foreclosures in 2008, and that similar skyrocketing numbers are being reported across the nation. Currently, one in every 150 Lucas County homes is in foreclosure. And since 2000, foreclosures have affected more than 10 percent of the county’s housing stock, said Commissioner Tina Skeldon Wozniak.
Rev. Jackson said foreclosures can be an embarrassing or humiliating experience, and that too many people ”suffer in silence” rather than rising up collectively to demand a restructuring of the mortgage lending industry.
”We must restructure loans and stop repossessing homes,” he said.
”We’re treating a storm like it is an April shower. This is not a spring shower. This is a profound economic depression.”
He noted that the crisis that began with the subprime loan sector now has spread into the prime market. Housing values have plummeted, stripping struggling local governments of much-needed property taxes. And he criticized American car companies whose response to federal bailouts of their own was to close factories, toss people out of work and send production overseas.
”We cannot stop the hemorrhaging of jobs until we have a reindustrialization policy to put Americans back to work,” he said.
Ms. Bowers, who was contacted beforehand by aides of Rev. Jackson, said she asked her lender to restructure her mortgage payments after incurring expensive medical bills in October 2008. The lender reneged after she told them last January about losing her job to downsizing, she said.
”I’ve never been in this situation. I didn’t know what to do,” she said.
She had to wait three months before unemployment benefits kicked in, she said. She’s cashed in a 401(k), depleted her savings and has been selling household items to try to get by, Ms. Bowers said.
On the brighter side, she recently interviewed for a job that she says fits her skills perfectly and is optimistic about getting the offer. ”I’m so close to being okay.”
Rev. Jackson’s visit was arranged by U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who at the breakfast meeting at Indiana called the civil rights leader ”a beacon of hope to people around the world” and ”an inspiring, courageous and enduring voice” for the poor and disadvantaged.
Rev. Jackson received the Distinguished Citizen Award from WilliAnn Moore, president of the local NAACP branch. Mrs. Moore, who called Rev. Jackson one of the greatest African American leaders in history, said the NAACP will be partnering with the local faith community on the foreclosure crisis.
Rev. Jackson said President Obama is ”doing well” after nearly a year in office, but did not bring up the president during his address nor in an interview beforehand. He said it is urgent that the federal government pass ”Stimulus II” legislation that invests in America ”from the ground up.”
”For people on the ground, nothing has happened yet,” he said.
Before leaving Toledo, Rev. Jackson addressed students at Woodward High School, where he discussed the importance of education and civic participation.
Mrs. Moore, meanwhile, has known Rev. Jackson for many years. Several years ago, after she received a death threat, he dispatched aides from his headquarters in Chicago to Toledo to guard her.
”Rev. Jackson is very special to me,” Mrs. Moore said. ”I’m extremely proud of him and I feel extremely honored that he would come to Toledo, Ohio.”
