Watch

User menu

Search form

Facing Foreclosure, But Fighting It

Facing Foreclosure, But Fighting It
Tue, 4/10/2012

"We are the United States and we haven't been united for awhile," says Bobby Hull, a U.S. veteran who is on the brink of losing his home. And he is far from alone: according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the home foreclosure rate over the last thirty years has quadrupled. It's more evident than ever that the banks - and the shoddy regulations that pretend to rein them - in are no longer working in the interest of the people.

But Occupy Our Homes is, and they are working in Minneapolis and elsewhere to stem the tide of wrongful foreclosures and evictions. Filmmaker Peter Leeman made these short documentaries to highlight the people behind the docket numbers.

"These films attempt to show how personal and emotional the foreclosure process can be," Leeman said. In their film series "Facing Foreclosure," Leeman and Kyle Kehrwald paint portraits of Americans who have no choice but to fight for their way of life.

In addition to Hull, a cornerstone in his community who nevertheless cannot afford the rising cost of his mortgage, we meet Monique White, a laid-off nonprofit worker from North Minneapolis who gets put through the mortgage rigamorole by U.S. Bank. If her grandson could no longer come over and play in her yard, "that would just devastate me," she says.

Monique's Story: Facing Foreclosure from Peter Leeman on Vimeo.

Then there's Sara, a divorced single mother who must fight in court to save her house. "My story is so typical," she says matter-of-factly, "that it can happen to anyone, anywhere, at any time - unless we start fighting back together.

"I'm not ashamed, I'm not embarrassed, I'm not the moral hazard," she adds. "We all have a voice, and we all have the power to speak up. And if we have the power to speak up, change will come."

Sara's Story: Facing Foreclosure (Intro) from Peter Leeman on Vimeo.

After John, an Air Force veteran, nearly drowned in bureaucracy in the aftermath of his mortgage modification with U.S. Bank, he reached out to Occupy. "I just think that these banks need to sit down and put a halt to wherever people are in the foreclosure mess and give these people a chance."

John's Story : Facing Foreclosure from Peter Leeman on Vimeo.

3 WAYS TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT

ONE-TIME DONATION

Just use the simple form below to make a single direct donation.

DONATE NOW

MONTHLY DONATION

Be a sustaining sponsor. Give a reacurring monthly donation at any level.

GET SOME MERCH!

Now you can wear your support too! From T-Shirts to tote bags.

SHOP TODAY

Sign Up

Article Tabs

Over the next two years, Democrats have the unfettered ability to be an albatross around the neck of the GOP — and to make sure that what little they manage to get done due to their paper-thin majorities becomes the reason for their undoing.

This last month has shown America that society will gladly tolerate vigilante violence, provided a vigilante chooses the right target.

President-elect Donald Trump isn’t just appointing incompetent buffoons to his Cabinet, but deeply immoral individuals who are completely lacking in family values.

Biden cared more about the appearance of having an independent DOJ untainted by politics than he did about holding an unrepentant criminal ex-president accountable.

The American people clearly spoke, and the drubbing Democrats received requires looking beyond just issue polls, voting patterns, campaign strategy, or get-out-the-vote tactics.

Over the next two years, Democrats have the unfettered ability to be an albatross around the neck of the GOP — and to make sure that what little they manage to get done due to their paper-thin majorities becomes the reason for their undoing.

This last month has shown America that society will gladly tolerate vigilante violence, provided a vigilante chooses the right target.

If the Democrats’ theme of 2017 was Resistance, the theme for Democrats in 2025 needs to instead be Opposition — and these two GOP senators may be the models to emulate.

President-elect Donald Trump isn’t just appointing incompetent buffoons to his Cabinet, but deeply immoral individuals who are completely lacking in family values.

Biden cared more about the appearance of having an independent DOJ untainted by politics than he did about holding an unrepentant criminal ex-president accountable.

This last month has shown America that society will gladly tolerate vigilante violence, provided a vigilante chooses the right target.

Posted 4 weeks 10 hours ago

Biden cared more about the appearance of having an independent DOJ untainted by politics than he did about holding an unrepentant criminal ex-president accountable.

Posted 1 month 2 weeks ago

President-elect Donald Trump isn’t just appointing incompetent buffoons to his Cabinet, but deeply immoral individuals who are completely lacking in family values.

Posted 1 month 5 days ago

If the Democrats’ theme of 2017 was Resistance, the theme for Democrats in 2025 needs to instead be Opposition — and these two GOP senators may be the models to emulate.

Posted 1 month 5 days ago

The country has never moved as close to the course it took under Benito Mussolini as it is doing now — and even if Meloni is not a neo-fascist politician, she has put herself in a position to appeal to and broaden fascism's political base.

Posted 1 month 3 weeks ago