Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign defends Patricia Hill from Bank of New York Mellon eviction

Patricia Hill, a retired Chicago police officer, was in mortgage modification negotiations with Bank of New York Mellon (BofNYM) when they sent the police to evict her. While the moving company emptied the attached rental unit, which was being rented out by an Iraq war veteran, 40 members of the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign (CAEC), Occupy our Homes and community members launched an eviction defense and successfully defended the main residence.

As the eviction defense of Patricia Hill's home enters into its third week, JR Fleming of the the CAEC is calling on supporters to put the pressure on BofNYM to call off the eviction and negotiate in good faith with Patricia Hill.

You can help defend Patricia Hill by doing four (4) things...

From HuffingtonPost.com; author: Matt Sledge

MIAMI -- Two years ago the Ramos family moved into a small house in the Little Haiti neighborhood here. They did so without a title, a lease, or permission from the property's owner... "For a time we were basically living in our car or at our friends' houses -- pretty much without a home," Mr. Ramos said.

Many would simply call it squatting. But Take Back the Land, the Miami-based group whose members helped the family move in, calls it a home "liberation."

"Here we have a chance to occupy and liberate: it's a one-two punch and that's what works," said Max Rameau...

The Ramos family would welcome any help it can get. At the mention of the Occupy movement, Mrs. Ramos beams. She doesn't ever want to leave her house, she said, "because as human beings we have the right to live dignified in a home."

Catherine Lennon- the woman Van Jones called 'the Rosa Parks of the foreclosure crisis'- won a reprieve from eviction due to a recent New York Supreme Court ruling. The ruling stays her eviction, which was set for Wednesday, August 17, 2011, and sets up a court date where Fannie Mae and Bank of America must prove they have the paperwork to evict her in the first place.

After her husband died of cancer, Catherine Lennon and her family had trouble making the mortgage payments and faced foreclosure and eviction. Thats when Take Back the Land- Rochester stepped in and organized an eviction defense with neighbors and affiliated organizations from around the country united to help. The eviction defense worked for two weeks, then Rochester police came with the SWAT team to evict Lennon and arrest seven people, including a 71 year old neighbor and Emily Good.

After weeks living in hotels and the couches of friends and family, Take Back the Land- Rochester moved Lennon back into the same home from which she was evicted. She has been there ever since.

Tavis Smiley and Cornel West kicked off their highly publicized "Poverty Tour" with a visit to Take Back the Land- Madison.

The bus tour, designed to highlight the issue of poverty in the US, has Smiley and West visiting 16 cities and small towns and meeting with organizations, churches and families dealing with issues of poverty.

Smiley and West interviewed M Adams of Take Back the Land- Madison and others, as well as listening to a speak out at foreclosed home.