JPMorgan Chase May Foreclose On Civil Rights-Era Activist During Campaign To 'Fulfill' MLK's 'Vision'

In the midst of a campaign to help "fulfill" the "vision" of Martin Luther King Jr., JPMorgan Chase has come under fire for threatening to evict an elderly Civil Rights-era activist.

The bank may foreclose on the home of 78-year-old Helen Bailey, a Nashville, Tennessee-based former civil rights activist because she can't keep up with her mortgage payments, according to a petition to save her house on Change.org. Bailey attempted to refinance with with a company that would have let her stay in the home until she died, but she says she couldn't convince Chase to reduce her principal by $9,000.

Other civil rights activists have already joined the more than 35,000 people that signed on to the petition asking the bank to accept an offer to purchase Bailey's home from an alternate buyer. The uproar comes as the bank is featuring a page on its website touting its commitment to "do our part to uphold Dr. King's vision."

Bailey's home state isn't at the center of the foreclosure crisis -- only one out of every 885 Tennessee housing units received a foreclosure filing in December, according to RealtyTrac. Still, prominent leaders have come by her side.

"I strongly support my dear sister Helen Bailey," Princeton professor and civil rights activist Cornel West said in a press release from Change.org. "Her struggle for justice is legendary. I stand with her."

In addition to West, other black community leaders as well as the Occupy Nashville protesters have taken up Bailey's cause. If efforts prove unsuccessful, Bailey will be forced to leave her home on February 15.

Some within the "Occupy" movement have sharpened their focus on foreclosure-related issues. In December, a group of activists marched in the East New York neighborhood in Brooklyn -- the area with the highest foreclosure rate in the city -- in an aim to move homeless families into the neighborhood's foreclosed homes.

JPMorgan isn't first bank to draw unwanted attention because of a controversial foreclosure. Bank of America, for one, threatened foreclosure in November over a missing one dollar payment on a home that was already sold. In October, an elderly couple was faced with the possibility of foreclosure after making a payment too early and using an incorrect routing number on a different payment.

All together, 2.6 million foreclosure filings were handed to 1.8 million housing units last year, according to RealtyTrac.

Comments

[calico01]

10:28 AM on 11/09/2012

"I strongly support my dear sister Helen Bailey," Princeton professor and civil rights activist Cornel West said in a press release from Change.org. "Her struggle for justice is legendary. I stand with her." ( He 'supports' her in every way, except financially, which could have changed this matter. Apparently 'dear sister Helen Baily' is not worth the money it would take to bring her mortgage up to date.)

[dtucker2009]

08:47 PM on 02/12/2012

I thought obama was gonna pay their rentss and cellyphone bills?

[luapmi2]

06:18 AM on 02/12/2012

LOL...because she marched she doesn't need to pay her bills?

Throw the lady out...

[Alex Breeze]

06:37 PM on 02/10/2012

I thought Martin Luther King worked for EQUALITY.

Equal = some have to pay mortgages, some don't?
or
Equal = everyone has to pay their mortgage, regardless of what they do in life.

Surely equal rights = equal treatment?

[Sanjay Bose]

04:15 AM on 02/10/2012

Now JP Morgan chase will cut more jobs and outsource (transfer most of the jobs to overseas), most of there work force , so ready to get fired
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/mar2009/gb2009039_431274.htm

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-02-14/news/28540403_1_government-bailouts-outsource-top-banks

http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewarticlepaged/articleid/5640311/pageid/2

http://www.theburningplatform.com/?p=28624

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20111221-707599.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhzMEtD349Y

http://www.informationweek.com/news/199601616?pgno=2&queryText

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_India

http://modernpatriot.blogspot.com/

[ACAllgood]

10:14 PM on 02/09/2012

Everyone that want to Help, sent her a Dollar, One of you SMART computer/money personnel, Please set it up and I will sent One Dollar to Helen. Let us do that for Our Elders, Now.

[Isaac Montgomery]

05:55 PM on 02/09/2012

this is a hard one, I truly sympathize with Ms. Bailey, but chase is within their rights to make the call as they see fit. that's the way life and business is in America. this is not a situation of principles in my opinion, it's business being business.

the sad thing about this though, is that right now people are prospering from Baileys' misfortunes, yet they aren't doing anything to help her. the reporter for example, will eventually get some kind of financial benefit, the person and or organization who made this video is getting exposure that equals to financial benefits in the long run. there are lots of us who've benefited from her actions in life, something has to be done on her behalf.

I read over 35,000 people signed a petition against chase. if each of those people had donated $.30 cents each, her problem would be solved. I got to believe her problem will be remedied soon, but why did we let it get to this? was it just to advance some ones journalistic career?

[luapmi2]

06:19 AM on 02/12/2012

liberals only donate OTHER people's money.

[Isaac Montgomery]

08:44 AM on 02/12/2012

why do you find it necessary to label people? people are people point blank.

[The Right is Wrong]

12:33 PM on 02/09/2012

I will never do business with a Big Bank.

I'll stick to the local banks and Credit Unions.

[dpcemker]

10:20 AM on 02/09/2012

The story here is not the bank taking back what belong to them... The story here is why and how civil right leader whom by all account are millionaires in many cases can let the happen. Where is All Sharpton and Jesse JAckson?

[Ed Red]

10:04 AM on 02/09/2012

Maybe Oprah, Tavis, Al or any of the millionaire MLK family could have stepped for fund raising or charity work?

Guess not.

[luapmi2]

06:20 AM on 02/12/2012

They're 1%ers

[X Williams]

08:46 AM on 02/09/2012

The thing is these banks are ruthless and these stories show this. These guys are money guys.. That's all they know.. I'm starting to think one has to be a greedy type of person to even work on wall street. You can't be the "moral" kind because they won't hire you.

And what's so dang hard about playing with other peoples money anyway to justify their incredibly high salaries and bonuses. These guy's bonus money is 5 times my entire yearly salary...

[Toni Goodman]

12:58 AM on 02/09/2012

Of course they would do this. Corporations are soulless, amoral beings. They have no compassion or sympathy. They are destroying America, and they are destroying Black Americans the quickest and hardest. We all need to stand against this nonsense.

[jimbo175]

11:46 PM on 02/08/2012

Please read story now on AOL/HP regarding 12 year old boy in Wisconsin who raised $10000+ in a month to save HIS 72 year old grandmother's house from foreclosure. Reach in your wallets , bail this woman out, take some initiative and stop blaming everyone else.

[dtucker2009]

08:49 PM on 02/12/2012

I need my dollar for a coffee. She can hit the streets!

[jimbo175]

10:36 AM on 02/13/2012

I hear you!

[ms.understood]

07:43 PM on 02/08/2012

this is really, really unfortunate. people at the age of 78 shouldn't be paying a mortgage for pete's sake! it seems like the banks should work out some deal with her so that she can stay in her home. another option would be for some of these wealthier people to pay off her mortgage for her, and in most cases, it would be a drop in the bucket for many of them. i hope things work out for her.

[RedDog79]

01:55 PM on 02/08/2012

yes. that's exactly what the article is saying. good thing you get irony completely. in case you didn't notice - this comment is meant to be sarcastic.