Say NO to Foreclosures & Austerity ,Friday, Aug. 24, 3 PM – 8:30 PM

Demand Fannie Mae and the government stop foreclosures and evictions now!

Stop the foreclosures of Jennifer Britt, Jerome Jackson and all families!

Restructure all mortgages to the actual value of the home!

Homes to the homeowners/Make the Banks pay!

Stop the attacks on city workers and city services!

Stop the attacks on teachers, students and our schools!

Down with the Consent Agreement and the Financial Advisory Board!

Restructure the City Debt: People first, Banks last!

Make the Banks Pay for the crisis they created!

5900 Michigan Ave., Detroit

Join us on Friday, August 24th at 3 pm as we demonstrate against Fannie Mae and the government at the Federal Building (477 Michigan Ave.). Fannie Mae, controlled by the federal government, is now carrying out more than 70% of the foreclosures in this country. Fannie Mae is foreclosing on Jennifer Britt, Jerome Jackson and hundreds of thousands of other homeowners and families. Fannie Mae and the government serve the banks and big investors and refuse to work with homeowners to keep them in their homes. We are demanding that Fannie Mae and the government stop all foreclosures and evictions now and move immediately to restructure mortgage debt to reflect the actual value of the homes and allow for families to purchase their homes at the actual, appraised value, where possible.

At 4 pm on the same day, we will march from the Federal Building to the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center to demand an end to attacks on city workers, city services, teachers, students and our schools. The emergency manager laws are designed for one purpose only: to make sure that the big banks and the big bondholders get paid in full from dwindling public resources and that city services and schools get only the crumbs that are left. This is the cause of the current austerity crisis. The banks which caused the foreclosure crisis and the economic collapse got bailed out by the government and seek to continue their profit taking by making sure they get paid in full on the predatory loans they made to Detroit and other cities. Meanwhile, homeowners, city residents, city workers, teachers and students catch hell. Restructure the public debt so people and the services we need come first, and the banks come last.

After the march, there will be two panel discussions and dinner, at 5900 Michigan Avenue, beginning at 6:30 PM.  The first will feature homeowners in Detroit who have been fighting foreclosures and organizing the neighborhoods.  The second panel is entitled “Banks and the Crisis in Detroit: How the foreclosure crisis created Detroit’s fiscal deficit and why a moratorium on on municipal debt service and home foreclosures is needed now.”  Panelists will discuss the role of the banks in the crisis facing the City of Detroit, the role of the taxpayer-owned Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the foreclosure epidemic, and the disproportionate impact of the economic crisis on African Americans.