It was a hot and humid day, and I forgot my water bottle. I arrived and witnessed an energetic protest in process.
"Empty Houses Ain't No Good; They Destroy our Neighborhood!"
"We're Going to Beat Back the Bank Attack!"
"Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, The Greedy Bank Has Got to Go!"
"Up w/the People Yeah; Down with the Banks Boom!"
"Banks get bailed out; People get thrown out!"
Over 100 vibrant picketers moved in a circle on the narrow sidewalk in front of the house and threatened family. Among them were 4 members of our Greater Boston chapter - Mel King, Joanna Herlihy, Arthur Conquest and myself. (At last night's potluck, Mel had told us about the demo and had invited us to join him.) We wore our GRP buttons and my GRP button sat next to my Chuck Turner button on my GRP t-shirt. Joanna deserves a special recognition, for her recent decision to join Merelice as members of MAAPL's leadership.
Without question, the leadership of the direct action resistance in Boston is lead by City Life, Vida Urbana. My guess is that about 1/3 of the protesters were members of City Life and their presence was very visible, as they were dressed up in their organizational yellow or red t-shirts.
A number of people spoke and led chants. The most important moment was a speech by Drusilla. She is the owner of this 2-family brick home in a low-income, mostly African-American neighborhood in Dorchester. She and her family have been living there for 22 years. It sounded like everything was fine with the home and paying the bank, until she had a tenant who refused to pay the rent and did a lot of damage to their apartment. (About 20 years ago, I was faced with similar challenges, and know first hand how scary this was for my home and family.)
The information that we received (on the leaflet) says that the non-profit, Boston Community Capital, had made an offer to buy the property, but US Bank has refused to accept the offer, refused to negotiate the offer, or make a counter offer. Instead, their bottom line decided to have her evicted.
I did not see any bankers at the home. Instead they sent the constable and the Boston Police.
A number of speakers made important points and connections:
-There are no bankers in Hell; they're all here.
-Today while the bank is taking away one family's home, the politicians in DC are taking away our services.
Both Democrats and Republicans were attacked. One speakers asked where is the party that stands with the people and I shouted out, the "GreenRainbow Party".
-Banks are moral hazards.
While low-income communities and people of color are especially targeted, this is a crisis that threatens more than one race and one class. While most of the City Life members present today are people of color, they made it very clear that they want to create a multi-racial resistance movement, and that their organization would do what they could to support those who called them. They pointed out that there was significant organizing and resistance taking place in Worcester, Springfield and Lynn.
Near the end of the demo, the organizers asked who would be willing to step forward and risk arrest, and a small number stepped forward. My guess is that, if it had come to that, between 10-20 protesters would have been arrested.
They then announced that our presence had saved the family from eviction, at least for today. The Constable and the police were present. When the police saw our presence, they asked the constable to show them the legal documents authorizing eviction, and he didn't have them.
The organizers thanked the police for serving the public's interest. Earlier an organizer from City Life had pointed out that police officers had called on their services to protect them from eviction.
Tomorrow will be another day and sometime soon the system will be successful with their intentions to serve the banks and harm people like Drusilla and her family.
However, today was another day that I was proud to be a member of the GRP and to join with other members of our party and other wonderful people engaged in a desperate struggle to serve the people and defy the powerful and wealthy elite.
As I left, they were singing, "We shall not be moved."
I am blessed that along with other members of our party, we stood with the people against the System. Thank you Mel for inviting me, and thank you Mel, Merelice, Joanna and Eva for your leadership with MAAPL Today, we marched with the people and were part of a "People's Victory".
Love,
Mike Heichman
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