Detroit struggle stops eviction of Rubie Curl-Pinkins

By Kris Hamel
Detroit

Aug 3, 2008

Ms. Pinkins, in wheelchair, at July 22 Bank of America protest. photos: Alan Pollock

Countrywide and its parent corporation, Bank of America, were forced to back down and stop foreclosure proceedings against Detroit resident Rubie Curl-Pinkins due to a mass outcry and militant struggle.

During a July 18 demonstration outside Pinkins' home, Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions activists, along with community members and others, stepped up the struggle to stop her eviction July 25 from the home she has owned for 45 years. This demonstration was covered widely by local media.

Pinkins, a disabled African-American senior, had her home paid off but was lured into a predatory loan from Countrywide. When her medical bills became overwhelming, she was unable to keep up with the mortgage payments, which had an interest rate of over 10 percent.

Pinkins successfully obtained a reverse mortgage to pay off the subprime loan in full, but Countrywide refused to accept payment. Her attorney, Vanessa Fluker, was able to get a court order extending the eviction date to July 25.

Mint farmer joins moratorium struggle

At the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions meeting held on July 26 in Detroit, Linette Crosby, owner of an historic mint farm in St. Johns, Mich., came to tell her story and get involved in the struggle. St. Johns, known as “Mint City USA,” is a rural farming community 20 miles north of Lansing, the state capital. Crosby and her brothers own a spearmint and peppermint farm that was started by their great-grandfather 95 years ago. Now the farm and their family home are in foreclosure. Their lender, Greenstone Farm Credit, has attached $30,000 in attorney fees to their mortgage. Crosby reported that there used to be 60 mint farms in the St. Johns area, but now there are only four. Development by real estate interests is rampant in the area, including property bought by anti-union conglomerate Wal-Mart. Ironically, the Crosby farm donates free mint compost that is used on the grounds of the state capitol building. Crosby said she has the support of the community and plans to do outreach at the 20th Annual St. Johns Mint Festival on Aug. 8-10 to garner support for her family’s struggle against foreclosure and to popularize the growing movement in Michigan for a moratorium to stop all foreclosures and evictions. Mark Crosby, Linnette's brother is the Grand Marshall of this year’s festival. Coalition activists will join her in St. Johns for these efforts during the Mint Festival, which usually draws about 60,000 people. —Kris Hamel

On July 22 the Moratorium NOW! Coalition and outraged community members took their protest to Bank of America in downtown Detroit. They refused to back down after the bank called the police, who demanded they move away from the building entrance. They chanted, “The police don’t know the law!” and “Justice for Rubie Curl-Pinkins!” as they kept up the demonstration.

During the protest, attorney Fluker and Nikki Curl, Pinkins’ daughter, went inside and demanded to speak to a Bank of America vice-president. They were immediately granted a meeting. Obviously, the vice-president was well aware of the demonstration and the bad publicity it was generating. Curl said, “I was treated like a queen” at the meeting. The vice-president promised Fluker and Curl that no eviction would take place July 25, nor the following week.

That same day, the Bank of America vice-president and the bank’s general counsel in North Carolina were bombarded with phone calls from Detroit-area attorneys demanding to know why Pinkins was being evicted.

Later that afternoon, attorneys from Trott & Trott, which represent Countrywide, called Fluker to begin negotiating a resolution. On July 25, a Wayne County Circuit Court judge entered an order to extend the redemption period and dismiss the case against Pinkins. Fluker was able to work out a settlement agreement that will allow Pinkins to pay off her loan to Countrywide.

Buoyed by this victory won from struggle, activists are planning a press conference, victory rally and celebration at the Pinkins home when the Countrywide loan is extinguished in early August.

Organizers are doubling their efforts for a moratorium to stop all foreclosures and evictions in Michigan and to keep pressure on the banks to reopen and renegotiate all predatory loans. They continue to build for the Sept. 17 march on Lansing to press for passage of SB 1306, a two-year moratorium law introduced byState Senator Hansen Clarke.

Nationwide, over two million homeowners are facing foreclosure over the next year alone.

Donations to help this struggle can be sent to Moratorium NOW! Coalition, 23 E. Adams, 4th Floor, Detroit, MI 48226. Go the coalition’s website at www.moratorium-mi.org for more information.