Breaking Up is Hard to Do; Closing Accounts with Bank of America

By scott parkin

Time to break up with Bank of America, it’s not us it’s you. They just won’t stop kicking people out of their houses and blowing up coal. On February 14th, activists across the nation will be joining Rising Tide Boston in closing their accounts with Bank of America.

Despite public relations ploys to the contrary Bank of America has still been engaged in financing coal infrastructure. They also have have been a leader in forced evictions through the racist mortgage crisis currently plaguing the nation. Working in solidarity with Vide Urbana, Rising Tide is demanding that Bank of America quit evicting working families from their homes.

It is completely within Bank of America’s power to stop evicting people from their homes, and such a step wouldn’t be unprecedented. Mortgage giant Fannie Mae recently announced a moratorium on evictions of tenants in foreclosed houses after facing pressure from housing justice activists. Now is [the] time to let BOA know in no uncertain terms that we won’t allow them to push any of us or our neighbors out of our homes, and that we’re certainly not going to trust them with our money.

Bank of America recently released a statement on mountaintop removal coal mining. In the policy, they failed to commit to a timeline or any concrete action to halt their financing of MTR. Furthmore, they tout “advanced technologies such as carbon capture and storage” as solutions to climate change. The recent devastating coal-ash spill in Tennessee is a reminder that we already have enough ongoing and imminent disasters from the coal industry- we don’t need any more. Bank of America should cancel all loans to destructive corporations such as Peabody Energy, Massey Energy, Arch Coal, Dominion, and all others involved with mountaintop removal and trashing the climate.

We encourage everyone who does business with Bank of America to take time this Valentine’s Day to tell them “it’s over between us.” In Boston, we’re encouraging people to pledge ahead of time, so we can know how many people to expect and let them know which branch we will be at.

Even if you don’t have a bank account at Bank of America, you can still participate at a support rally. We are calling on social and environmental justice groups around the country to work together organize account closings in their communities on this day. Without our money, greedy banks cannot continue to destroy the planet and exploit marginalized communities.

For more info, check out http://www.risingtideboston.org/