Nation's Foreclosure Crisis An "Economic Titanic"

Rev. Jackson says Chicagoans are paying dearly for police corruption

CHICAGO (November 3, 2007) – During today’s live international broadcast of Saturday Morning Forum Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., founder and president of Rainbow PUSH Coalition, discussed the nation’s mounting mortgage crisis and announced steps the organization will take against police injustice.

Abuse and corruption in the Chicago Police Department have brought another costly legal verdict, Rev. Jackson said, in the case of Coprez Coffie, 23, who won a $4 million judgment against the Chicago Police Department last month after charging he had been sodomized by two officers claiming he had drugs. Gerald Lodwich and Scott Korhonen were the officers who allegedly sodomized Coffie with a screwdriver during a search.

“No police officer should be allowed to carry a badge and a gun after committing a sexual offense,” Rev. Jackson said. “We want 50,000 people to sign a petition that states that the officer who did this should be registered as a sex offender and removed from the police force. And we will picket the police department to demand justice.”

The two officers testified that they had no idea where the screwdriver – found in the glove compartment of their squad car and contaminated with Coffie’s blood and feces -- came from.

Addressing the nation’s spreading mortgage foreclosure crisis, Rev. Jackson shared alarming local statistics. “In the state of Illinois, one in every 623 homes is in foreclosure,” he said.

“When your neighbor’s house is on fire, it affects you; when your neighbor’s house is in foreclosure, it affects you too.”

While touring the nation to address the mortgage issue, Rev. Jackson met last week with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. The recent announcement of Citigroup CEO Chuck Prince's pending resignation shows that America’s ship is sinking, he said.

“The poor are in the hull of the ship; they are already drowning,” Rev. Jackson said. “The water has risen, and now everyone on deck and the captains up top are all going down in this economic Titanic.”

On Monday, Rev. Jackson and Rainbow PUSH Coalition will return to the Ickes Homes to continue addressing residents’ concerns, including unsafe conditions in which homeless people and drug users live in the hallways of the housing project. “We challenge the police and the health departments to help those who are homeless and sick with addiction find shelters,” Rev. Jackson said. “The police need to be helping, not harassing.”

Rev. Jackson is a longtime advocate of restoring safety in public housing, especially at the Ickes Homes, whose residents endure frequent police harassment, illegal searches and other ill-treatment.

The Rev. Dr. Major Jemison, Vice President for Social Justice for Rainbow PUSH Coalition, spoke as guest preacher during today’s broadcast. “We have to be possibility thinkers,” he urged.

Rev. Jackson also is calling for all charges against the Jena 6 to be dropped. “Let’s stop the Jena-cide.”

Next Saturday Rainbow PUSH Coalition will host a free home heating and energy fair at the organization’s headquarters.

Source: Rainbow PUSH Coalition

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