A good friend of mine participated in a scheme that robbed four families of the equity in their homes. Shockingly, my friend, let’s call him Alfredo, had no idea that he had done this. Alfredo is certainly no Bernie Madoff. In fact, he his someone I could trust with the keys to my home or even the password to my bank account. So how did this happen?
Alfredo got a mortgage from a prominent Latino mortgage company in Chicago. This mortgage company has a CEO that is a very hands-on kind of guy, providing direct customer service to many of his clients. One day, he showed up at Alfredo’s door to talk to him about a program his company had started to help his paisanos (countrymen) stay in homes that were in danger of foreclosure. This millionaire CEO talked up the program as a way to help la raza (our people) get back on their feet after having missed a few mortgage payments. But for the program to be successful, the CEO continued, people like Alfredo needed to help out. Alfredo tenia que prestar su credito (he had to lend his credit) to those people so they could get a new mortgage and resume payments. What a slickster! Alfredo trusted this guy, after all he had secured the mortage for his own home. And how could a good person like Alfredo refuse to lend his credit to a paisano in need? Of course, the CEO’s novel concept existed only in his head. Through what can only be described as magical math, the CEO ended up getting Alfredo to be an owner of 4 different mortgages, notwithstanding Alfredo’s status as a part-time maintenance man. The actual homeowners lost their homes but remained physically in them as they made payments to the CEO’s mortgage company which then forwarded payments to the banks. The mortgage company took all the equity and in return gave Alfredo $2,000 for each mortgage. the company made a killing, but all the risk had been transferred to Alfredo!
As someone who grew up in the States, the idea of “lending my credit” to someone seems absurd on a gut level. How could Alfredo be fooled into this? But remember, Alfredo was a hardworking immigrant who had not gone to college and who had never lived in a community where credit was so abundant. The millionaire CEO knew how the system worked and as a result had done very well for himself. Alfredo trusted that the CEO was doing the right thing to help these people. If he received a couple of bucks in return for lending his credit, then that was great.
Of course, all those people lost their homes and Alfredo is now in bankruptcy. The mortgage company seems to have insulated itself from any of the fallout.
A lot of us who focus on community organizing and politics often take for granted that the system is rife with racism and anti-Latino schemes to keep us down. But what about these slick Latino professionals in our community that our exploiting our people in ways that no white guy could ever think of? Most of the victims of these schemes are immigrants who are afraid to speak out. In fact, Alfredo started a complaint with the Attorney General, but became scared that his family might be outed to immigration authorities so he backed off. We organizers have to be willing to take on caciquism in our neighborhoods. Caciques are not just the political bosses like Al Sanchez in Chicago or José Rivera in New York, but also some members of the Latino professional class the create traps like the one that ensnared Alfredo. I wrote earlier that Alfredo was no Bernie Madoff, but we do have our Bernie Madoffs. If you don’t believe me, read this article from the LA Times about a major Latino-run ponzi scheme targeting other Latinos across the country.
The Aztecs used to execute their leaders for immoral public behavior (e.g. public drunkeness). I’m not saying “off with their heads,” but some accountability would be nice.
Cockroach People 