On Thursday, August 25, 2022, the New England Area Conference (NEAC) of the NAACP released a statement to the media regarding its filing of an amicus brief in the Supreme Judicial Court case Bank of New York Mellon as Trustee on Behalf of the Registered Holders of Alternative Loan Trust 2006-J7, Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates, Series 2006-J7 v. Alton King.
King’s case is currently under reconsideration by the SJC. MAAPL has been working with the NEAC and other organizations to convince the SJC to reverse its decision in the original case. More details about the SJC’s original decision, and MAAPL’s response to the decision, are available here on the MAAPL website.
You can read the full NEAC press release below.
Download the NEAC Press Release ( PDF )
Download the NEAC Amicus Brief ( PDF )
NAACP, NEW ENGLAND AREA CONFERENCE
P. O. Box 320128
West Roxbury, MA 02132
(617) 323-8885
Contacts: Juan Cofield, NEAC #
Grace Ross, MAAPL 617-291-5591
New England Area Conference of the NAACP files historic brief in support of Black senior homeowner (and those similarly situated) targeted in this unprecedented period of illegal foreclosures.
The New England Area Conference (NEAC) of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) filed an amicus brief with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
“This filing represents a historic step towards ending predatory and discriminatory home lending practices and illegal foreclosures in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. We are proud to provide Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court, with an opportunity to address and correct the impact of 160 years of discriminatory lending practices,” said Maurice Powe, lead counsel for NEAC and legal redress committee chair for the Springfield Branch of the NAACP.
The case, Bank of New York Mellon as Trustee on Behalf of the Registered Holders of Alternative Loan Trust 2006-J7, Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates, Series 2006-J7 v. Alton King, case number SJC-12859, is presently under reconsideration.
NEAC has worked for over a decade with the Massachusetts Alliance Against Predatory Lending (MAAPL) to end the illegal and predatory mortgage lending targeted to Blacks and other people of color. “This truly authoritative brief is a crash course in the criminal ploys by which the American mortgaging industry still reduces Black homebuyers to stifling economic deprivation,” explained Sarah McKee, formerly General Counsel of Interpol for the U.S., who has volunteered with MAAPL since 2014.
“I am so proud that NEAC has entered this brief in my SJC appeal,” said Alton King of Long Meadow explained, “These loans that were doomed to fail, designed to be foreclosed from inception, have ruinously extracted generational wealth from targeted communities, people of color and economically disenfranchised groups.”
“The Alton King case is unfortunately just one of thousands of Massachusetts homeowners targeted by discriminatory and illegal lending practices; it has damaged disproportionately Blacks and other borrowers of color. In fact, these practices have damaged the fabric of and caused overwhelming damage to the American economy” said Juan Cofield, president of NEAC. He stated further that, “for a century, the NAACP has worked through the courts to enforce the US Constitution, federal and state laws to ensure that all citizens are guaranteed equal opportunity for liberty and justice.”
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