M***@hotmail.us
2008-10-11 16:14:17 UTC
Memo to GOP: Minority Homeowners Did Not Cause Wall St. Meltdown
By David Swanson, After Downing Street. Posted October 10, 2008.
ACORN has decidedly moved past the stage of being ignored and even the
stage of being laughed at. ACORN is now being attacked. Next comes
victory.
From 2000 to 2003 I was the communications coordinator for ACORN, the
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. I don't know
whether to be sorry or relieved that I don't have my old job now.
ACORN has been through some scandals of its own making, but it is
currently all over the news because of a pair of absolutely fraudulent
and nationally coordinated attacks.
One of these attacks involves accusations of voter fraud. But, of
course, "voter fraud" almost doesn't exist, and federal prosecutors
have lost their jobs because they couldn't find evidence of its
existence to satisfy the Bush White House. In fact, the accusations
against ACORN are not about voting, but about voter registration.
Now, if some kid fills out bogus forms in order to make more money
from ACORN for supposedly registering voters, ACORN is supposed to try
to catch that stuff and not turn in those forms. On the whole, ACORN
has registered huge numbers of people with only a tiny percentage of
problems. But the more important point is that the kid trying to scam
extra bucks has no intention of trying to vote multiple times, risking
imprisonment, and no intention of bringing in corpses to have them
vote, as CNN seems to imagine. There's no money in fraudulent voting,
only enormous risk. But there is money and power in vote suppression
and vote miscounting, the major stories that this one is meant to
distract from.
The other attack on ACORN focuses on blaming the Community
Reinvestment Act (CRA) for the collapse of Wall Street. Most subprime
loans, and therefore most predatory loans, are not made in order to
comply with CRA. In fact, low-income and minority communities have
seen a great deal of activism in recent years demanding that the
predatory lenders stay out, not in. ACORN coined the phrase "predatory
lending" and made news years ago by beginning a major campaign to keep
loans that are worse than nothing out of neighborhoods.
Predatory loans are not loans made to the wrong kind of people. They
are loans made in very deceptive ways with the aim of making the
borrower believe they'll be able to pay it back, but with the aim of
making them fail. Predatory mortgage lenders make money by refinancing
repeatedly, extracting more fees each time, and eventually seizing the
property. This is accomplished with misleading fine print that strips
people of their equity through all sorts of hidden fees and charges
and rate increases, and by consolidating credit card and other debt
with house debt. Every year, ACORN produces a lengthy report
documenting the targeting of racial minorities with these loans.
For years, ACORN has led efforts to ban predatory loans through local
and state legislation, while the same gang that is now so upset about
these loans being made has fought endlessly against bans and
restrictions.
The good news is that the family of organizations known as ACORN is
growing, raising wages, improving schools, reforming corporations,
building housing, organizing active citizens, and clearly threatening
the powers that be. ACORN has decidedly moved past the stage of being
ignored and even the stage of being laughed at. ACORN is now being
attacked. Next comes victory.
By David Swanson, After Downing Street. Posted October 10, 2008.
ACORN has decidedly moved past the stage of being ignored and even the
stage of being laughed at. ACORN is now being attacked. Next comes
victory.
From 2000 to 2003 I was the communications coordinator for ACORN, the
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. I don't know
whether to be sorry or relieved that I don't have my old job now.
ACORN has been through some scandals of its own making, but it is
currently all over the news because of a pair of absolutely fraudulent
and nationally coordinated attacks.
One of these attacks involves accusations of voter fraud. But, of
course, "voter fraud" almost doesn't exist, and federal prosecutors
have lost their jobs because they couldn't find evidence of its
existence to satisfy the Bush White House. In fact, the accusations
against ACORN are not about voting, but about voter registration.
Now, if some kid fills out bogus forms in order to make more money
from ACORN for supposedly registering voters, ACORN is supposed to try
to catch that stuff and not turn in those forms. On the whole, ACORN
has registered huge numbers of people with only a tiny percentage of
problems. But the more important point is that the kid trying to scam
extra bucks has no intention of trying to vote multiple times, risking
imprisonment, and no intention of bringing in corpses to have them
vote, as CNN seems to imagine. There's no money in fraudulent voting,
only enormous risk. But there is money and power in vote suppression
and vote miscounting, the major stories that this one is meant to
distract from.
The other attack on ACORN focuses on blaming the Community
Reinvestment Act (CRA) for the collapse of Wall Street. Most subprime
loans, and therefore most predatory loans, are not made in order to
comply with CRA. In fact, low-income and minority communities have
seen a great deal of activism in recent years demanding that the
predatory lenders stay out, not in. ACORN coined the phrase "predatory
lending" and made news years ago by beginning a major campaign to keep
loans that are worse than nothing out of neighborhoods.
Predatory loans are not loans made to the wrong kind of people. They
are loans made in very deceptive ways with the aim of making the
borrower believe they'll be able to pay it back, but with the aim of
making them fail. Predatory mortgage lenders make money by refinancing
repeatedly, extracting more fees each time, and eventually seizing the
property. This is accomplished with misleading fine print that strips
people of their equity through all sorts of hidden fees and charges
and rate increases, and by consolidating credit card and other debt
with house debt. Every year, ACORN produces a lengthy report
documenting the targeting of racial minorities with these loans.
For years, ACORN has led efforts to ban predatory loans through local
and state legislation, while the same gang that is now so upset about
these loans being made has fought endlessly against bans and
restrictions.
The good news is that the family of organizations known as ACORN is
growing, raising wages, improving schools, reforming corporations,
building housing, organizing active citizens, and clearly threatening
the powers that be. ACORN has decidedly moved past the stage of being
ignored and even the stage of being laughed at. ACORN is now being
attacked. Next comes victory.