A demonstration surprised the Wood Acres neighborhood late Sunday afternoon when about 1,000 anti-Wall Street activists congregated outside Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s residence to protest the home mortgage and foreclosure crisis and the state of the economy.
The event was organized by National People’s Action, a Chicago-based liberal organization that advocates for “the 99 percent,” and the National Domestic Workers Alliance, a grassroots advocacy organization for domestic workers.
Around 30 parked buses snaked around the block from Cromwell Drive to Wiltshire Drive as people from across the country came to exhibit their frustration at what they see as the Obama administration’s favoring of big banks over middle- and lower-income Americans.
Protestors want Geithner to conduct a thorough investigation of the crash on Wall Street and the nationwide mortgage fraud that followed.
“Timothy Geithner is standing in the way of a proper investigation,” said Barbara Kalbach, a leadership volunteer for Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement and registered associate of the NPA.
The group also wants a “Robin Hood” tax, a 0.5-percent tax on all Wall Street transactions. The moniker is based on the legendary English hero’s practice of stealing from the rich to give to the poor. It would be used to help people keep their homes and end the foreclosure crisis. Kalbach, clad in a green vest to look like one of Robin Hood’s “merry men,” said that although the tax is “tiny,” it would raise around $380 billion each year.
The police arrived to keep peace as the protesters gathered. They allowed several representatives with written speeches to knock on Geithner’s door. He was not at home.
Shortly afterward, the police began to disperse the crowd. The group then marched in an orderly fashion down the street singing the folk song “We Shall Not Be Moved” and brandishing signs that said “99%.”
The NPA has met with Geithner twice over the past two years, but both times, Geithner failed to implement all of the organization’s goals. Members who protested in front of his house hoped to once again catch his attention in order to get a more forceful response.
“I think it’s going to help him realize people are hurting,” Kalbach said.