By David Shankbone – Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16542433
Originally published on Forbes.com May 21st, 2013
After being arrested by Federal Protective Service yesterday, they were asked for their names. Among the names that the arrested gave were Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase, Brian Moynihan of BOA, John Stumpf of Wells Fargo, Richard Davis of U.S. Bancorp and Lloyd B. Blankfein of Goldman Sachs. Many of those arrested were not veteran activists but ordinary people who feel they have been crushed by the foreclosure crisis. According to Amy Schur of Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, there are grandmothers among those arrested and at least four of them are over seventy.
The encampment in front of the Justice Department began yesterday afternoon and continues despite arrests. Twenty-seven protesters have been arrested. Two have been released. Among the other twenty-five, nineteen have given the names of bankers, that they would like Eric Holder to consider arresting – those “too big to jail”.
The encampment is not just the work of Occupy Wall Street. Ann Haines is with Occupy Homes MN. She was having trouble with her monthly payments, but was making them. She asked US Bank for assistance in getting some sort of modification and was advised that she needed to default in order to be eligible. Then came the sheriff’s sale. That is what turned her into an activist. She confronted Richard Davis at a US Bank shareholder’s meeting and is still occupying her home, but that did not stop her from camping in front of the Justice Department.
Amy Schur told me that probably the largest contingent is from the Home Defenders League, which predicted that
Dozens of struggling homeowners are prepared to risk arrest in non-violent civil disobedience or set up an ongoing occupation outside the Department of Justice until demands for Wall Street accountability and relief for their communities are addressed.
You have to feel a little sorry for the bankers who’s namesakes are currently in jail on their behalf. They have had a bad image ever since George Bailey took on Mr. Potter.
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