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Momentum builds in fight against foreclosures: Rosemary Williams eviction trial pushed back to May 26

By staff

Press conference at courthouse. Signs say "Stop foreclosures and evictions"

Minneapolis, MN – “Banks got bailed out, we got sold out! Stop foreclosures now!” was the chant on a spirited picked line here, April 28 at the Hennepin County Government Center. Rosemary Williams, who faces eviction from her foreclosed home, along with leaders of the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout and the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign announced some important developments in her legal case.

Organizers said that the eviction trial of Rosemary Williams will be pushed back to May 26. Rosemary Williams, a 55-year resident of the Central Neighborhood in south Minneapolis was scheduled for trial April 28. But now she will remain in her home while the legal proceedings continue.

“I intend to stay and fight,” said Williams. “We are building a movement to get a measure of justice for everyone who is facing foreclosures and evictions. We need a moratorium on foreclosures.”

Mick Kelly, of the Minnesota People’s Bailout Coalition, told the crowd “We salute the decision of Rosemary Williams to stay in her home and to stand up against the epidemic of foreclosures and evictions that is sweeping the United States.”

Williams’s efforts to fight the foreclosure and related eviction have drawn broad community support. In addition to the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout and the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, the effort to defend Rosemary’s home and stop foreclosures has the backing of ACORN, the MN Tenants Union and the Central Area Neighborhood Development Organization.

Cheri Honkala, of the Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign, states, “With the trial delayed, we will use the added time to build the fight to keep Rosemary in her home.”

In a unique legal strategy, hundreds of neighbors, friends and community members have signed legal requests to intervene in her case. They argue that her eviction, which will lead to another vacant home, would create a public nuisance for the entire neighborhood. Low-income neighborhoods with high concentrations of people of color have been the hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis.

Linden Gawboy, of the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout, said, “We are sick of politicians – both republican and democrats – doing nothing about this crisis. In the weeks ahead we are going to turn up the pressure on the bankers and legislators so we can save homes, protect renters and save our neighborhoods.”

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