Foreclosure: Fighting for our Homes

I've discussed the economic crisis, and just how it has effected people of color a time or two on this site. I've done so because it's important to understand just how the economic inequality of minorities are impacted and fostered by the actions of members of the wealthy ruling class in our society.

Already we've seen the widening of the wealth gap just through the last few years of the economic crisis. And in a society where home-ownership is seen as a significant first step in an attempt to secure the American dream, people of color are currently in crisis, as we are losing what little we have.

This from ColorOfChange.org:

The big banks are at it again. First they targeted minority communities with subprime loans and other predatory lending schemes, helping to make Black Americans and Latinos 70% more likely than Whites to be in foreclosure.1

Now we're learning that the very same banks and mortgage lenders have been foreclosing on homes around the nation without verifying that they have the right to do so.

The stories are horrifying: in Ohio, a bank foreclosed on a man after insisting for months that it didn't hold his loan and refusing to accept his payments. In Florida, Bank of America tried to take a house away from a man who never even had a mortgage. The more we learn, the worse it gets.

If you're a homeowner, one possible way to protect yourself from the banks' bad behavior is to demand your note and make them prove they own your mortgage. A new online tool makes it easy. Check it out and please share this information with your friends and family. It could help to save your home or that of someone you love:

http://www.wheresthenote.com/colorofchange

The banks have been trying to write off their failure to properly verify ownership as a mere technicality. But it's much more serious than that, and Attorneys General in all 50 states have banded together to investigate the illegal foreclosures, and several elected leaders have called for criminal charges to be filed against the banks.

Kicked to the Curb: 90-Year Old Woman Loses Her Home to Foreclosure

The city of Memphis TN. is rich in African American history. It's black population quadrupled between 1860 and 1870 as new freedoms of emancipation took hold. Being the third largest city in the southeast (and 19th largest in the country) with a predominantly black population (62%), one can only imagine just how the current economic fallout has greatly affected the city, and its residents.

The national economic crisis spurred by greed via Wall Street and the bursting of the housing bubble, is currently felt by many here in the city. In fact, this city exists as one of many examples of just how the combination of rising black unemployment, the recession, and foreclosures, have all served to wipe away the gains of the black middle and upper class.

According to a recent study conducted by Queens College for The New York Times, the median income of black homeowners in Memphis, has receded to a level lower than that of 1990 - and roughly half that of white homeowners. Clearly, as unemployment lags during this economic crisis, things will continue to get worse for people of color,not only in Memphis, but nationwide.