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Fight banks, Jackson says
People need to oppose predatory loans and foreclosures
Journal photo by David Rolfe
The Rev. Jesse Jackson speaks before a full house at Friendship Baptist Church in Winston-Salem.
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Published: November 2, 2009
The Rev. Jesse Jackson called on people at a local church to sign on to a national effort to challenge what he called greedy and predatory practices at banks.
"We've been hit with a pandemic of poverty," said Jackson in an interview before he spoke at Friendship Baptist Church in Winston-Salem yesterday. "It's undermining the progress we've made through the years."
The former presidential candidate and nationally known civil-rights activist is looking to ministers and congregations across the country to organize, he said. Friendship Baptist is one of the local churches that he has called on to be part of the effort.
He doesn't know if it will take demonstrations, legislation or litigation, Jackson said, but something has to be done to restructure the banking system and renegotiate the terms on which banks lend money.
"I came here because I trust your pastor and I know your needs," Jackson said.
The Rev. Stacey Frazier, the pastor of Friendship Baptist Church, said that he invited Jackson to speak because he knows that members of his congregation have gone through foreclosure and that layoffs are affecting the whole city.
"I believe that he will inspire and that he will invoke response," Frazier said. "That he will challenge, that he will motivate people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps."
Jackson said that the South is a different place because of the civil-rights movement. But unchecked greed is undoing much of the progress. Greed on Wall Street has resulted in millions of people losing jobs and losing homes to foreclosure. Greed is forcing college students to drop out of school because they can't afford student loans.
"The predators have been bailed out by the government, but their victims are still sinking," Jackson said.
He called on government to create another stimulus package that works from the bottom up.
Banks are now able to get money for little or no interest, he said. Those same institutions are then turning around and offering high rates on student and home loans.
Foreclosures and plant closings cut across racial lines, he said.
"This time around, whites and blacks can find common ground," Jackson said.
Jeremy Nelms, who lives in Greensboro and had come to hear Jackson's talk, said that he was signing on to Jackson's effort.
Nelms, who used to work in banking, said he has seen firsthand the sort of practices that Jackson was decrying.
"He's been a champion when it comes to the African-American community," Nelms said of Jackson.
mgiunca@wsjournal.com.
727-4089
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