We Live Here
Detroit Eviction Defense and the Battle for Housing Justice
by Jeffrey Wilson and Bambi Kramer
Seven Stories Press, 2024, 238 pages, $16.95 paperback; ebook $10.

WILSON AND KRAMER’s graphic novel highlights the victorious struggles of several homeowners, providing a glimpse into the economic crisis in Detroit and its resistance by the community. The tsunami came to the city earlier than the country’s 2008 meltdown and stayed longer.

The group of activists that became DED came out of the 2011 Occupy Detroit encampment. Their own eviction from the grounds of the historic public square, Grand Circus Park, came after 60 days of taking back the public space and a lot of political dialogue. During that time, the Direct Action Working Group decided to contribute bodies to the struggles of already existing actions and organizations, like Welfare Rights, opposition to the corporatization of public utilities and Palestine solidarity.

We hooked up with another group, People before Banks. They were engaged in picketing a local bank that had unjustly foreclosed on the mortgage of one of their neighbors. The delicious victory of getting a faceless bank to renegotiate in support of the homeowner being able to get their home back was addicting. How often do you make this big a difference in someone’s life?

The Occupy Detroit Eviction Defense Working Group was born and soon abbreviated to Detroit Eviction Defense (DED). DED absorbed some of the groups and built coalitional actions with others.

From the beginning, DED encouraged homeowners to reach out to their networks. This would include the church and union they belonged to as well as their neighbors, friends and relatives — bringing them into the fight.

“We will fight with you, we are not here to just fight for you.” “This affects the whole community.” Although we said that to everyone, some families were too embarrassed to make the fight public.

“It’s not your fault.” The predatory lending, double-track bank eviction policies and zombie mortgages made that all too clear.

Wilson and Kramer highlight half-a-dozen stories of longtime Detroiters who took the fight public and fought back, because “We Live Here.”

With the Garrett family the target was Mellon Bank.

With Jerome Jackson it was the U.S. government’s broken promise to build and maintain homes for people with accessibility needs.

For the Hernadez family it was a con man who took their money under false pretenses and Fannie Mae.

With Marie Sims it was a gentrifying developer.

With Jerry, Gail and their family it was Bank of America.

For Jennifer Britt it was cutting through the bureaucracy and forcing Fannie Mae to settle with her.

We learned the strategies of home defense as we did it. There was no manual. It involved writing down the story — which sometimes meant doing research to find out the relationship between the banks and government agencies.

It meant flyering and phone calls to the bank, with demonstrations and sit-ins, and stand-offs with the bailiffs. It involved packing the courtroom and standing up when the case was called. Sometimes it meant finding lawyers who would work pro bono on a case. It put the judges, banks and government agencies on notice.

Not every case was successful, but surprisingly many were. That was due in no small part to the fight put up by the homeowners themselves and the community that gathered around them.

Over the course of the struggle, Jeffrey Wilson found us. He was there to listen, learn and participate. From reading the comic, I think people can see the extent of the predatory mortgages in Detroit, but also understand there was always opposition to these attempts to force people out of their homes.

Eviction in Detroit has since evolved from mortgage foreclosure to tax foreclosure to rental evictions, which are currently the norm.

I was glad to be part of it and like others, resistance and solidarity changed me.

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