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An Extraordinary Event By. Natalie Intondi Last week, I had the opportunity to join the Central Florida JwJ delegation to Charlotte, NC to protest the Bank of America shareholders meeting. It was an incredible experience to be with hundreds of people from all over the country filling the streets. Young and old, black and white, male and female we met with the same purpose to let Brian Moynihan, the CEO of Bank of America, know that the American people see him for the robber-baron that he is. This was no ordinary protest. The city of Charlotte recently established an ordinance called the Extraordinary Events Ordinance. It essentially said that any event in the city that was deemed “extraordinary” now gave the police the ability to search and or arrest anyone who was in possession of a water bottle, a backpack, a marker, a scarf, and other random items. The morning of the protest was damp and chilly and as a group we left our hotel and began our march with a feeling of excited anxiety wondering what the day would hold for us. How seriously would the Charlotte Police department take they're newly acquired power? As we walked towards where the showdown was to take place, outside of the main Bank of America building in downtown Charlotte, I remember looking toward the street and seeing van load after van load of police officers. There were groups of 20 or 30 police on bicycles riding ahead of us, headed to the same location. As daunting as those images were, the feeling of solidarity and unity around me was just as powerful. When we finally arrived in front of the shareholder meeting, we filled a major intersection of the city and party began. Music played, and drumming could be heard from blocks away. Police were everywhere, but we did not care. Let them hear us too. Let the police listen to the stories of those who lost their homes as a result of Bank of America's predatory lending practices, let them hear about how Bank of America sold people's homes without them even knowing it. The police needed to know who they were protecting.

That is when we all sat down in the middle of that huge intersection and one by one people testified to the nightmares Bank of America had put them through. Thanks to the Unity Alliance which included members of Jobs with Justice, Right to the City, the Push-back Network , National Domestic Workers Alliance that mobilized to the big showdown. People spoke on the tales of foreclosures and broken dreams that are the legacy of BoA. Johnny, a homeowner was arrested for trying to get into the meeting. He drove all the way from Boston because he and his partner were in the process of losing their home. The police handcuffed him and dragged Johnny off like a criminal for trying to fight for the home he and family built together. A home filled with hopes and built on a foundation of hard work. Johnny was not the criminal, Brian Moynihan is the criminal! He has robbed not only Johnny, but thousands of families of so much more than a roof over their heads. He has robbed people of their homes and livelihood. The city of Charlotte was right. This was an extraordinary event, but not for the reasons they deemed it extraordinary. It was extraordinary because it brought some many amazing people together who perhaps under normal circumstances would not have associated together, but on May 9th they were able to come together in solidarity and fight agai