On June 29th, 2013, Jodie Randolph passed away, dying of lung cancer. The Occupy Oakland Foreclosure Defense Group successfully defended Jodie Randolph's house in Alameda, California from the banks from early November through to the present.
Rest in Peace, Jodie Randolph. Jodie on her front porch.
Thanks to the many of you who have followed the #defendjodie saga. One of my most-recommended diaries ever (585 recs) was the beginning of the story, detailing our initial attempts to forestall Jodie's eviction. (Below you can find links to the entire set of #defendjodie diaries).
A short tribute composed by one of OOFDG's activists:
With Heavy Hearts...
Our member and friend, Jodie Randolph has won one battle and lost another. As many of you know, Jodie was not only fighting for her home but fighting against cancer. Early Saturday morning that fight ended when Jodie passed away. We will announce details for the memorial service as we get them.
But in these last months, thought, she knew that together we had won the fight for her home. After 8 months of defending the home and fighting Morgan-Stanley, we have won on every demand and the ink is practically dry on paperwork securing the house. The home now passes to her family, the deal stands - and indeed stands as testament to her fierce fighting spirit.
These past few months a celebration was being planned to mark the win and reunite all who had a hand in this fight, who took shifts at the house, who called and wrote, who canvassed and flyered, who shut down Morgan Stanley's offices in San Francisco and Oakland, and locked down a fifty-two story skyscraper with Jodie. At the behest of the family, in addition to the memorial, the celebration will still be held. It will be more than a celebration of resistance and a fight won; it will be a celebration of Jodie, her life and spirit.
Details to follow as we figure them out.
Rest In Power, Jodie.
Much love to the Randolph family,
In solidarity,
Foreclosure Defense Group
While the evil men and women do may live after them, and the good interred with their bones, the evil banks do continues despite our determined attempts to expose and combat it, for there appears to be no end either to their existence or perfidy.
Consider this very recent development, wherein Bank of America figured out how to reshaft the people it shafted to begin with who managed still to be - barely - standing:
Simply put, ((Bank of America)) seeks to pocket quick cash and evade practices set forth in major settlements - by cashing out of the subprime mortgage servicing business. The result would be to leave struggling homeowners back at square one, with even fewer protections to avoid foreclosure...
...Non-bank servicers, which process monthly payments and deal with foreclosures but do not originate loans, have an asset not available to their big bank colleagues: They haven't yet been officially caught scamming customers. Therefore, they are not a party to the various servicer settlements brought by state and federal regulators, and they need not submit to those settlement guidelines...
BofA sold servicing rights to 650,000 mortgages (worth $93 billion) to the parent company for Green Tree... servicers like Green Tree... have terrible reputations as among the worst servicers in the country (worse than Bank of America, if you can imagine that).
According to a bank insider, this is part of a deliberate effort to flip the servicing rights for a quick buck and get out from under the scrutiny of the various settlements...
In the most damning charge, the insider noted that, "It may mean that any modification currently in process with Bank of America will not be recognized and the borrower will proceed into foreclosure."
And this, from just a couple of weeks ago:
Bank of America's mortgage servicing unit systematically lied to homeowners, fraudulently denied loan modifications, and paid their staff bonuses for deliberately pushing people into foreclosure...
"Bank of America's practice is to string homeowners along with no apparent intention of providing the permanent loan modifications it promises," said Erika Brown, one of the former employees. The damning evidence would spur a series of criminal investigations of BofA executives, if we still had a rule of law in this country for Wall Street banks.
It's not just Bank of America, of course. Similar horror stories can be told about all the major banks (E.g,
Wells Fargo Has Blood on Its Hands, and
Wells Fargo Has MORE Blood on Its Hands.)
This just came across my twitter feed minutes ago - banks abusing the letter of the law in defining what a "completed" application for a loan modification is and using such technicalities to foreclosure on homes rather than modify loans.
There is no end to what the banks will do to squeeze another dollar (or tens of thousands of dollar) out of yet another homeowner in tragic circumstances, ruined by the very Great Recession the banks themselves in large part caused.
But it is also true that Jodie Randolph died knowing that fifty people were willing to face arrest to contest that force, and devoted thousands of hours to occupying her house; from strangers at the start to visitors at her bedside at the end.
Jodie and some of the OOFDG crew
There may be little hope that our nation has the will to undo the evil that these banks have wrought, but there is hope for the soul of our community.
Jodie's Story
Day 1:
If I'm in Jail When They Call Ohio Tomorrow For Obama...
Day 2:
Update on #DefendJodie, The Woman Undergoing Cancer Treatments About to Be Evicted From Her House.
Day 3:
The Realtor Arrives. The Realtor Threatens Jodie. Jodie Stays.
Day 5:
We Shut Down Morgan Stanley's Phone Line.
Day 8:
In Which We Are Contacted by An Alien Life Form.
Day 9:
In Which The Issues of Foreclosure & Eviction Get International Attention.
Day 15:
In Which We Prepare To Cross the Great Sea.
Day 16:
In Which We Try To Deliver a Letter To Morgan Stanley But Shut Down a Skyscraper.
Day 18:
In Which OccuPiers Eat Well And the Oakland Tribune Takes Notice.
Day 28:
In Which the Dog Ate My Flyer
Day 59:
First They Ignore You. Then They Disclaim Responsibility. Then They Negotiate.
Day 71:
In Which Jodie Sits Down with Morgan Stanley And Their Lawyer.
Day 73:
A Terrific Initial Victory for People's Action.
Day 100:
Day 100! And Jodie is Still In Her House! #defendjodie.
In early April of 2013, an agreement in principle was concluded between Morgan Stanley and Jodie. The last chapter of this saga awaited final confirmation of that agreement.
This, now, is her final diary.
