Leading a Movement for dignity & respect with love & hope
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5.10.2012 | NDWA
From New York City to Charlotte, NC, the National Domestic Workers’ Alliance is the 99%!
This spring thousands of people from all over the country have come together to challenge the unchecked power of the corporations responsible for illegally foreclosing on hundreds of thousands of homes and dodging billions of dollars in taxes -- they are coming together in a national movement called the 99 Power.
This week we went to Charlotte with the UNITY Alliance and the 99 Power to stand with the 99% against Bank of America. We stood with families who are homeless because of Bank of America’s illegal foreclosures; we stood with the mothers whose children can’t stop coughing because of pollution from dirty coal plants financed by Bank of America, and we stood with people from across the country whose communities have been bankrupted in the name of corporate greed. Four years ago, one of our leaders, a home care worker named Maria Reyes, lost her house to Bank of America.
In 2005 Maria’s family had finally saved enough to purchase a home -- they had finally achieved the American Dream. But in 2008, as the recession deepened, Maria and her sons lost their jobs just as the rate on their adjustable rate mortgage tripled. There was no way that Maria and her family could make the increased payments.
Over and over again, Maria asked the bank to adjust that payments so that they could afford them -- but their response was always “no”.
Soon after, Bank of America foreclosed on Maria’s home. She and her family lost everything -- all of their savings and five years of investment in the home -- gone.
That’s why on May 9th, we went to Charlotte to stand with nearly 3,000 other representatives from the 99% to speak out against illegal foreclosures, dirty coal, and unchecked corporate greed. It was a day full of hope and love.
Watch Maria speaking on the streets of Charlotte here.
Check out some of the great press coverage of Maria’s speak out in Charlotte below:
And that’s why on May 8th we joined with hundreds of other New Yorkers at Bank of America Tower in New York City where NDWA director Ai-jen Poo was arrested for peacefully protesting the Bank’s illegal and immoral foreclosures. Watch a beautiful and short video here.
The past few days are just the beginning of an effort to unite domestic workers, immigrants, parents, children -- all of us in a movement to reclaim our democracy, save our communities and protect our environment.