Save the Lewis Family Home!

After Wall Street crashed the global economy in 2008, African-Americans lost just under $200 billion in wealth. This was the greatest destruction of Black wealth since the burning of Black Wall Street in 1921. Between 2008 and 2012, 9.3 million homes nationwide were repossessed by the banks that caused the foreclosure crisis in the first place. Black families suffered the greatest losses, and still haven’t fully recovered - as evidenced by the fact that 7 out of 10 of the thousands of people living unsheltered on the streets are Black.

Mayola Lewis - an Oakland community leader known for her lifetime of advocacy for peace, justice, and human rights - was sold a predatory reverse mortgage on the family home when she was on her deathbed. Her son and live-in caregiver, Leslie Lewis, is still fighting to save their home. While Mayola Lewis has since passed away, Leslie Lewis is a Black disabled elder with a long history of community and cultural work in Oakland (you might recognize him from his appearances in MC Hammer music videos), a fixed income, and a wealthy landlord who wants him out of the home.

Community Ready Corps (CRC) is calling on the community to stand with Mr. Lewis. Please sign this petition to join us in urging the new owner of the property, Mr. Hien Vu, who owns over 60 properties across the state of California, to meet with CRC & Mr. Lewis to negotiate a plan to keep Mr. Lewis in his home and to return ownership of the home to Mr. Lewis.