For over 40 years ACORN has fought the good fight. From a few
initial neighborhoods in Little Rock, Arkansas, we grew to become a
large, active, national organization of low- and moderate-income
families, mostly people of color, working together to make their
communities a better place. In working together, we helped families
see that they can make a difference.
In the summer of 2008 I became the first new CEO of ACORN in 38
years. We revitalized a board of community leaders, and began the task
of strengthening our organization. We instituted new corporate
governance and internal controls, and we took the steps to develop
proper legal and financial relationships between ACORN and its
affiliates. That was no easy task, and we were well on our way to
launching a new era for ACORN.
The impact of ACORN's highly effective strategies spread throughout
the country, catching the attention of right-wing media and its
proponents. The barrage of unmitigated accusations certainly took its
toll, but even as extremists increased their radicalism, we continued to
make a difference for families in each and every corner of our nation.
We fought bank redlining and predatory lending for decades, making the
American dream of homeownership more universally available while
protecting it against waves of abusive practices. We helped build a
movement for a living wage, fought for stronger public schools, helped
rebuild New Orleans after Katrina, and won countless improvements in
neighborhoods. As recently as 2009, the organization saved affordable
housing in New York, stood up to anti-immigrant racism in Arizona, and
was fighting for real solutions to the foreclosure crisis, even as the
right fought to stop this work in its tracks.
The ongoing political onslaught caused irreparable harm. This effort
was a clear attempt to cast a shadow over the historic 2008 Presidential
election, and set up a far right counter offense. Through those
attacks we re-tooled and re-organized. Then again came the right-wing
media blitz. This time of edited videos that misrepresented our mission,
and consequently misled the public. The pressure and cost of defending
ourselves in multiple investigations as a result of the falsified
videos has eroded our organization. As a result we will be filing
Chapter 7 bankruptcy by close of business today (Tuesday, Nov. 2nd).
We have seen this coming for some time. Our chapters closed in the
first quarter of the year. We have spent our remaining resources trying
to dissolve the organization with integrity, while continuing to respond
to the extremist attacks. Allegations and reports will continue to try
to undermine all that ACORN has done, often searching for evidence from
long before I became CEO.
Thank you to all our members, supporters, funders, friends and allies
who helped ACORN carve out a deep and lasting place in history. Let us
all learn from the past, and march boldly into the future. ACORN will
live on in the hearts of the people it served, and as those of us who
fight for justice know, "THE PEOPLE UNITED WILL NEVER BE DEFEATED".
