No Eviction For Rosemary Williams

"Today was supposed to be a very sad day," said a member of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC) to begin the press conference at Rosemary Williams's house this afternoon.  The sheriff had arrived at nine in the morning with an eviction notice.  Ms. Wiliams was packing.  Her son, his wife and their two small children had gone to their other grandmother's house.  Plans had been made for emergency foreclosure resistance.  "We were ready to go to jail," said Cheri Honkala of PPEHRC.  But twenty minutes before the press conference was to begin, one phone call changed everything.

The call came from Ward 8 City Council Member Elizabeth Glidden, who had met with Ms. Williams to discuss the foreclosure.  A possible buyer (unnamed until the process is complete) had been found for Ms. Williams's home, a buyer who would lease the house back to the Williams family.  The eviction was off.

"It's not about me," said Ms. Williams.  "There are thousands of people in this community going down the same road."  She described how "seven people on this block just disappeared" after receiving eviction notices. For her, she said, victory lay in how more people were now"struggling to keep their property instead of just running away in the night".  She spoke highly of Council Member Glidden, "the only politician who has come foreward....she doesn't have to be here."

Everyone at the press conference emphasized that the movement was a shared victory.  "It's people who make history," said Mick Kelley.  Cheri Honkala thanked Ms. Williams for "putting her life on public display to have the press talk about her...letting people into her life" and thanked the National Lawyers' Guild for "tak[ing] on a big bank with no money".

Ms. Williams talked about the 45,000 homes now without running water in Detroit.  She talked about donating clothing and household goods to Sabathani Community Center for people who have left their foreclosed homes with only what they can carry because they can't afford to hire a truck.

Although the press conference was celebratory, everyone spoke of the need to continue the anti-foreclosure campaign.  And another member of PPEHRC explained that her home was now in foreclosure.