occupynashville:

While Chase misappropriates the memory and image of Martin Luther King this Black History Month, the bank is still going forward with its plans to foreclose on Helen Bailey on Feb. 15.

Helen Bailey is a 78-year-old grandmother who participated in the civil rights movement, worked as a childcare provider for autistic children, and was a community volunteer. She has paid her mortgage since 1999, but now she can’t keep up the payments. All she wants is to stay in her home until she dies, in the neighborhood where she feels safe and has lived for nearly quarter of a century. She could have refinanced with a company willing to let her live in the house for free until her death, but Chase Bank would not reduce her principal by $9,000. She’s been paying 7% interest, well above most rates, so Chase could have decided they had made enough. Instead, they have started foreclosure and Ms Bailey could end on the street. 

Since then, Ms Bailey’s lawyer has found an alternate buyer for her home. This sale would provide Ms Bailey with an exit from her current mortgage and allow her to pursue other options for housing. We request that Chase: 

· accept the offer of $85,000 
· write off any deficiency between the loan balance and the offer 
· waive all interest, legal fees and penalties accrued since the initial refinance offer 
· cancel any foreclosure auction scheduled 

It has been estimated that at foreclosure, Chase may lose over $30,000 compared to this settlement offer. Therefore this option makes the most sense financially for Chase and given Ms Bailey’s specific circumstances, there is little moral hazard in this solution.

Tell Chase that in Nashville, in America, we don’t throw elderly ladies out on the street. In Nashville, in America, we fight for what’s right. Helen Bailey marched for civil rights. It’s our turn to march for Helen Bailey.

__

To mark Martin Luther King Day and Black History Month, Chase gave us all a new website saying that the company gives back to communities. 

On the website, Chase says, “The values exhibited by Dr. King and embodied in his lifelong struggle for social change align with those that shape JPMorgan Chase’s approach to giving in the communities in which it operates.”

But King’s legacy is not for Chase to use to cover up their own special brand of callousness.

While Chase tries to tie itself to the incredible legacy of Martin Luther King, who really did believe in communities, Chase tries to throw a grandmother who marched for civil rights out onto the street.

PLEASE reblog… this is vital!

occupynashville:

Dear Governor Haslam (bill.haslam@tn.gov.) OR Representative Watson (rep.eric.watson@capitol.tn.gov) OR Senator Gresham (sen.dolores.gresham@capitol.tn.gov),

I know that you, as a civil servant, an elected official, and a person of faith, are committed to defending the Constitutional rights of all Tennesseans and in helping those who live without the stability of a home. For this reason, I am writing to ask you to halt HB 2638/SB 2508. This bill imperils our freedoms and also threatens Tennessee’s most vulnerable citizens.

I am concerned that this bill exists in order to criminalize one specific social movement: Occupy Nashville, located at Legislative Plaza. While major corporations are allowed to “live” near elected officials through constant campaign contributions and lobbyist activity, this bill limits the presence of real, human constituents who are petitioning their government for a redress of grievances on behalf of the 99%. Furthermore, this bill seeks to remove and label law-abiding, concerned, tax-paying citizens as “threats to public health, safety, and/or welfare.” 

On the contrary, we believe the true health of the Public—the health of our democracy—is contingent upon the continued activity of social movements like Occupy Nashville. I am sure you are aware that permanent vigils near decision-makers is a time-honored method of non-violent change-making, from Tiananmen Square to Tahrir Square.  

But beyond limiting the free speech rights of Occupy Nashville and all Tennesseans, this bill would also criminalize our homeless friends across Tennessee who cannot live in traditional shelters. The available homeless shelters in Nashville do not accept individuals who wish to stay with their spouses and families, who are pet-owners, or who work non-traditional work hours. It would be hypocritical to promote family values and then further criminalize poor people who are working to keep their families together by outlawing their presence on remaining public land.

While it is certain that the bill is written to address the existence of Occupy Nashville on Legislative plaza, this bill would not only inhibit first amendment rights to those petitioning for a redress of grievances and criminalize the urban homeless, but would also apply undue restrictions to all parks across the great state of Tennessee. Assembling in Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park in Memphis or Victor Ashe Park in Knoxville could potentially be criminalized if this bill is to pass. 

Occupy Nashville has worked with the Metro Public Health Department in the past to address any potential health concerns, and we are happy to continue this relationship. We are committed to working with you and other officials to address any future concerns that may arise during the course of this historic campaign.

However, should HB 2638/SB 2508 be passed, and be used to evict Occupy Nashville, I will once again be at the Plaza, willing to risk arrest on behalf of our First Amendment rights.

Sincerely,

(Name, address, #)

This is in regards to a bill that is being shoved through Tennessee’s legislature. I think it’s a very important bill to stop, not just because it affects Occupy Nashville, but because it potentially and unduly limits access to state parks all across Tennessee. This is a big deal, y’all. If you live in Tennessee (and even if you don’t) please take a second to copy and paste this (and maybe remove or edit the last paragraph) and send it to Gov. Haslam, Rep. Watson, and/or Sen. Gresham. 

Again: THIS APPLIES NOT JUST TO NASHVILLE, BUT TO MEMPHIS, CHATTANOOGA, KNOXVILLE, ETC. All of Tennessee would feel the repercussions of this bill, as per Occupy Nashville’s lawyers. 

“Occupy Nashville’s problem has not just been that women get abused there. More broadly, our problem is that when men and women call out that abuse, they are told that ‘that’s not what this movement is about’ and that feminism is a distraction from our larger goals, the goals that supposedly unify all of the 99%. While this kind of dodging doesn’t always fly, it works surprisingly often. When it does, the supposed nobility of the larger movement-at-hand acts as a free license for us to act out our internalized misogyny unchecked. That’s when, for all its sometimes-utility as a combative slogan, “we are the 99 percent” backfires. In those moments it becomes a tool used against women rather than a tool for inspiring democratic experiments.

On the many contentious email threads of Occupy Nashville, we are often admonished to ‘leave feminism out of this’; or, if the author doesn’t want the liability of being specific, just to ‘leave our agendas at the door’ and (it always seems to be white men saying this) ‘focus on our core issues’ – presumably, the twin goals of getting money out of politics and ending corporate personhood, rather than the issues of ending identity- or body-specific violence, like that against women, people of color, or people overseas. [I assume that other activists are familiar with these online flame-wars, but if you’re not, thank your luck and read on.] While few if any of those people calling for feminism to be ‘left out of this’ in Nashville are anarchists, this is something in anti-authoritarian circles that we refer to as “manarchism” – essentially, the idea that your anticapitalist militancy is so badass that you don’t have to treat others with kindness or take feminism seriously.”

I am taking the liberty of posting this, as a feminist occupier in Nashville. Feminism IS a core issue. But even beyond Nashville, there have been women reacting positively to this piece, upset that misogyny is alive and well in many encampments across the nation, women who are actively trying to dismantle the hegemony of patriarchy in their attempt to imagine and create a better society, a better world. I highly recommend this piece to any occupier concerned with the issue of feminism.