Unsettle Portland

Angelah Hill gives her statement to the press

Unsettle Portland, We Are Oregon, the NE Assembly and many community members showed up to support Angelah Hill on Tuesday morning as she readied herself to see eviction paperwork filed that would kick her family out of their home. Instead, she was able to celebrate….

“Angelah Hill and homeowners who are going through foreclosure had a small victory today (Feb. 7th) as her eviction hearing was dismissed. Over 50 people showed up to support Hill, who was served an eviction notice last week.

Angelah has been going through the emotionally exhausting foreclosure process and has been dealing with confusing paperwork, unresponsive and manipulative banks and the fear of losing her home. Most recently, Freddie Mac purchased her home from Wells Fargo and then moved to evict her. However, Angelah had has been seeking and receiving community help and filed a complaint a week before Freddie Mac moved to evict her. Her complaint exposed a laundry list of bad tactics from the banks’ playbook on intimidating homeowners”….read whole article  (excerpt from We Are Oregon statement).

OPB: Activists Protest Foreclosure Evictions

Portland Occupier: Saving the Home of Angela Hill

OregonLive: Occupy Exits Hibernation

Angelah Hill, ready to fight back

In December, amidst the swirl of holiday cheer, Unsettle Portland received an urgent request for support of a Portland homeowner – Angelah Hill, an African American single mother of two whose home in Southeast was being put up for auction. Her family would be homeless if evicted, so in a rousing show of support that is proving to be characteristic for foreclosure defense work, Unsettle Portland, We Are Oregon, and many community allies showed up to the auction and packed out the courthouse steps for Angelah.  The house was not auctioned off that day, and Angelah wagered some time to start organizing her community.

The next step in her battle is coming up THIS Tuesday, February 7^th.  At 9am, Freddie Mac is filing the paperwork to have Angelah and her two kids evicted.  We invite you, once again, to pack out the court room to show Angelah your support and the courts that eviction notices are no longer effective!  Following the 9am filing, Angela and a number of her allies (including Unsettle Portland and We Are Oregon) will be giving a press conference publicly affirming her intention to stay in her home, no matter what.

PLEASE COME and show Angelah that you will stand with her.

WHERE:  The Multnomah County Courthouse Room 120, 1021 SW 4^{th Ave}

WHEN: 9am Court Hearing, 10am Press Conference – come for both!!

WHO: Angelah Hill, We Are Oregon, Unsettle Portland, homeowners, friends, families, community organizers, Occupiers, old, young, workers, everyone, and you!

Read the Mercury article about the auction of Angelah Hill’s house in December.

Unsettle Portland is a local affiliate of the Take Back The Land network.

unsettleportland.org

takebacktheland.org

unsettleportland@gmail.com

An Open Call from Take Back the Land

We Must Occupy the 1% to Liberate the 99%
Existing economic policies protect the profits of bailed-out banks, big corporations and ultra-wealthy individuals above all else. The resulting system is uninterested in and unable to meet basic human needs. Consequently, there is — simultaneously — millions of homeless people and millions more people-less homes, all while the sick cycle of displacement continues on, today, forcibly dislodging homeowners and renters alike from their homes & communities. Wall Street is exploiting us and “our” government is enforcing it. So where do we turn? We turn to us.

Call to Action
In this context, we call for a 2012 Spring Offensive, to take back our land and deliver our economy from the greed of the 1%. Across the country, our communities will come together to engage in locally-driven Positive Action campaigns designed to transform property relationships: to free it from the Bank and Real Estate Giants that use them for speculation and profit, to bring democracy home, and to stimulate neighborhood-based dialogues around community-based alternatives that ensure the equitable & sustainable use of available resources and the dignity & stability of people before profits.

Our Positive Action campaigns will be protracted efforts intent on securing community control over land.

• We will Liberate homes to house human beings and land to benefit the common good.
• We will defend our families against eviction.
• We will Occupy bank lobbies, shareholder meetings, economic summits, government agencies and public squares in protest of ongoing inequities.
• We will hold Neighborhood Assemblies in the form of BBQs, outdoor movies and “Occupy”-style gatherings to build community power in these democratized spaces created for learning together & planning for a better future.
• We will assert Housing as a Human Right.
• Positive Action campaigns that move families into vacant foreclosed homes and defend families from eviction, directly confront immoral laws with moral action. Similar to the Civil Rights campaigns where Blacks defied Jim Crow laws with “sit-ins,” these Positive Action campaigns are Human Rights-based “live-ins.”

Global Movement
We are an integral part of a growing global movement stretching from Africa to Europe, from Asia to the Americas. Sponsored by the same indelible human spirit which brought the Arab Spring, the 2012 Spring Offensive will fundamentally transform the possible. This is a moment that cannot be branded, managed or controlled by a single organization. It is our moment. Let us join together in this spirit to Occupy, organize and take action.

Answer the Call
The Spring Offensive will take concerted organizing, above all else. From the Occupy Movement and community based organizations, from faith groups and labor unions, we hope this call will be moved as a proposal to be taken up and owned as our own everywhere we live, work, play, pray and organize.
For planning, training, and support information, contact rob@takebacktheland.org