On Tuesday, April 24, 2012, a coalition of homeowners, clergy, immigrant rights advocates, unions, tenant rights groups and residents who represent some of the hardest hit communities across the country hit the streets of San Francisco for a nonviolent direct action protest of Wells Fargo’s annual Shareholder’s Meeting. The coalition is asking Wells Fargo to enact widespread principle reduction on home mortgages that are under water, end low-cost loans to immigrant detention centers, reform the pay day loan industry, pay their fair share in taxes, and support the California Homeowners Bill of Rights instead of lobbying against it. This is a first hand report of that action.
I arrive at a San Francisco downtown plaza that overlooks the San Francisco Ferry Building and the bay, counting fifteen motorcycle police gathered a block away and another 25 police with cycles at the plaza entry. I am at the right place. The Ferry Building clock tower bell rings in the 10AM start time.
Clergy of various denominations and genders stand under a palm tree. Signs in the crowd of demonstrators in the plaza identify groups and sentiments: “OccupyHousing,” “Wells Fargo takes with one hand and steals with another,” “Occupy Wells Fargo / Stop Predatory Loans / Stop Illegal Foreclosures,” “We are the 99% / DemocracyforAmerica.com/occupy,” “United Service Workers West,” “Occupy SF,” “SEIU.”
I move to the palm tree as representatives from the interfaith clergy speak.
“This is not the first time we have invited you, Wells Fargo, to make changes.”
The speaker tells us that he, along with a coalition of community groups, many represented today, met with John Campbell, Senior VP for Corporate Responsibility earlier this month.
“We talked with him, sharing our stories of pain, asking for real change and by the end of the meeting John Campbell had said, ‘no, no, no, no’ to every one of our suggestions. This meeting was just one of many that community groups have had with Wells Fargo over the past several years. All of them came back with the same response: ‘No.’ ‘No.’ ‘No.’ Well, there was a time for repentance. There was a time to call for dialogue. But those times are long gone. The Spring has come. The Easter season is here. It is now a time of action.”
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