Two civil rights activists are attempting to call attention to two prevailing problems affecting the black community.
Rev. Jesse Jackson will march on Wall Street next month to protest subprime adjustable-rate mortgages that have sent many poor Americans – of all races – into foreclosures. Meanwhile, Rev. Al Sharpton plans to march in the Nation's Capital today against the rise of noose hangings and other hate crimes following the Jena 6 incidents in Louisiana.
Rev. Jackson hopes his New York rally, scheduled for Dec. 10 with similar marches the same day in other cities, will press the financial community and the government to relax terms of subprime adjustable-rate mortgages to head off a massive wave of home foreclosures he says will likely hit poorer communities hardest.
Jackson, who has long accused the finance industry of steering minorities to subprime loans, told the Sun-Times that a rally of "borrowers marching on lenders" will be held under the banner "Save our houses -- choose restructuring over foreclosing."
Foreclosures nationwide jumped nearly 100 percent in the third quarter this year compared with last year, and Jackson said it's likely to get worse as hundreds of billions' worth of ARMs reset from low "teaser" rates to higher rates over the next year.
"We see the tsunami coming in January and March, and before it hits, we're going to go to the streets," he said. "If somebody is paying $900 a month, they are already a good customer. If it goes to $1,500, they don't need counseling or refinancing, they need restructuring of that twisted ARM."
Sharpton and his National Action Network are leading the scheduled Washington D.C. March on Hate Crimes, which will take place from noon to 2 p.m. today at the U.S. Dept. of Justice (950 Pennsylvania Ave, N.W).
The march will circle the building seven times to symbolically represent the biblical story of Joshua and the Battle of Jericho, in which God's chosen people marched around the city of Jericho seven times for seven days and the walls of their oppressors came tumbling down.
More info about today's March Against Hate Crimes is available here: http://www.nationalactionnetwork.net/html/washington_d_c__march.html
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