Part 2, thanks Paul for the contibution,
Nikita Bailey, an activist with the non-profit Center for Responsible Lending, warned that the mortgage crisis could empty the pockets of African-Americans.
"Today the subprime market is poised to bring about the greatest drain of wealth the African-American community has ever experienced," Bailey told AFP. "It is a financial apartheid no doubt about it."
For Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Phillip Morris, the extent of the devastation is comparable to that wrought by Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005.
In the hardest-hit suburb of Cleveland, "nearly 24,000 people have lost their homes to Cleveland's Katrina," he told AFP.
"Families left behind furniture, clothing even family photos."
In the hardest-hit district of New Orleans, the real Katrina destroyed about 13,700 houses, displacing some 35,000 people, Morris said.
"More than two years later, 6,000 homeowners (in St. Bernard Parish) have each received an average 65,000 dollars in government funds to rebuild their American Dreams. But in Cleveland and its suburbs, there is no disaster relief, no presidential visits, no good Samaritans to helps us."
"It would have been better if it was an earthquake or a hurricane, we respond better to natural disasters than to men in suits disasters," said city councilor Zach Reid.
In the streets, shops, suburbs and restaurants, resentment against the government and the Washington elite flourishes.
"People in Washington -- George Bush, the US Senate, the US Congress -- witnessed it, they stood by and they didn't do nothing to stop it," said Cleveland resident John Brett.
"It was almost like they were on the Titanic, and they could see the iceberg coming and they did nothing about it," he said sitting at the counter of the Velvet Dog Bar.
"They wrecked our American dreams, the willingness to own a home," he said. "Even during the Great Depression we did not see the number of homes and properties abandoned like we are seeing now."
More to come
Lonny
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1 comment:
No matter the color of the folks did the people who had their homes foreclosed on not see or have to read the disclosed information in their closing papers. I understand that alot of people got screwed by predatory lenders and those lenders should fry. However all the mortgage loans that adjusted did just as the disclosed papers told them they would do. I dont know just thoughts. mc
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