Fannie Mae in talks with Lennon family and Take Back the Land- Rochester!
Take Back the Land
For more information, visit takebackroc.rocus.org or takebacktheland.org.
In a major victory for those fighting back against the foreclosure crisis, mortgage and foreclosure giant Fannie Mae began talks with Catherine Lennon about the Rochester, NY home from which she was forcibly evicted just one day before. The negotiations, initiated by US congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY-28), took place after Take Back the Land- Rochester (TBL- Rochester) organized a 2 week long eviction defense of the Lennon home, which ended in dramatic fashion with a SWAT team followed by a phalanx of police and multiple arrests. The goal of the talks is to get Lennon and her family back into their home.
Catherine Lennon lived at 9 Ravenwood Ave. in Rochester for seven years. Economic hard times forced some of her children and grandchildren to move into the home and the family to miss some mortgage payments. Bank of America began foreclosure proceedings shortly after Catherine's husband died of cancer. Fannie Mae, recipient of a $90 billion taxpayer bailout, took over the home and proceeded to evict the extended family of 11.
While the eviction was set for Monday, March 14, 2011, the community had other plans. TBL- Rochester organized a community eviction defense, with neighbors and supporters physically blockading the home for two weeks, preventing the family from being forced out. All that ended on March 28th as Rochester police brought the SWAT team and an estimated 25 police cars, to forcibly execute the eviction. 7 eviction defenders were arrested, including a 70 year old neighbor still in her pajamas. However, the eviction defense did not end the fight, it only started the second phase.
WATCH VIDEO OF THE EVICTION DEFENSE HERE
After a flurry of supporter calls, emails and viral videos of intense media scrutiny, the very next day, US congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY-28) directly intervened, convening a conference call between Catherine and high level Fannie Mae officials, who are now re-reviewing her case. In addition, TBL- Rochester was contacted directly by the offices of Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, both of whom committed to step up efforts to assist the family.
“The outpouring of community support and the growing housing rights movement clearly made the difference,” remarked TBL- Rochester organizer Ryan Acuff. According to Catherine, the conference call was very positive and Fannie Mae committed to helping get her home back.
But in the same way the Lennon family had help, Take Back the Land- Rochester is not at it alone. They are, instead, part of a broader Take Back the Land- Movement, a trans-local network of organizations dedicated to elevating housing to the level of a human right and realizing community control over land through “positive action.” A form of civil disobedience, Positive Action includes “live-in” (as opposed to sit-in) campaigns designed to house and keep families in foreclosed and public housing.
Take Back the Land- Movement affiliated organizations have engaged in Positive Action throughout the country, including Take Back the Land in Miami, Atlanta and Madison, Wisconsin, as well as the Toledo Foreclosure Defense League, FUREE in New York city, ONE DC and Empower DC, City Life/Vida Urbana in Boston, the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign, Right 2 Survive in Portland, OR and the national Malcolm X Grassroots Movement. A host of other organizations await training and support.
The Take Back the Land- Movement, then, is about more than one home, one family or even one community: it is about the human right to housing and the ability of communities- not corporations- to control their land.
While the economic crisis produced billions in bailouts for the big banks, it produced heroes for the rest of us. Heroes like Mary Trody in Miami, Keith Sadler in Toledo, OH, Catherine Lennon in Rochester and countless others nameless heroes fighting for what is right. These ordinary people are not heroes because they are fighting for their own homes, they are heroes because they connect the fight for their home to the fight for their neighbors' home; your neighbors' home; your home.
So even as we fight to reclaim 9 Ravenwood Ave., we understand this is part of a broader struggle to make the human right to housing more important than the “right” of bailed out banks to maintain vacant buildings. We believe that every person, by mere virtue of their humanity, has the fundamental right to a decent home they can afford, regardless of their income. We are building a movement to elevate housing to the level of a human right. Consider yourself invited.
For more information, visit takebackroc.rocus.org or takebacktheland.org.
Forward,
Max Rameau
Take Back the Land- Movement
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