Jess Alexander, Making Big Banks Listen

Everyone is worried about the economy.  There are not enough jobs, people are broke, and corporations are holding onto to much wealth for things to improve.  We’re mad about it.  We complain about it.  And usually we can’t do anything about it.  If we are on our own, that’s the way it is.

But on Monday, October 10th, I was able to do something about it.  Along with 60 other people.

As part of a week of actions organized by Minnesotans for a Fair Economy, I joined 60 people in going into two of the biggest banks in downtown Minneapolis — Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank — and demanding they clean up their act.

As a solid group of people, with a plan and a purpose, we went in and delivered a letter to each of those banks asking that they start doing the right thing:  pay what they owe to turn the economy around.

It felt good.  As just one angry guy, I could have gone in, had no effect, and left.  But with 60 people, they had to pay attention to us.

At both banks, they tried to give us the runaround and tried to stall.  But together we stood our ground, we were calm and we didn’t back down.  Finally at Wells Fargo, a manager came down from the upper floors to speak with us, listen to our concerns and take our letter.  At U.S. Bank, the first security guard refused to take our letter and was rude to our spokesperson.  We were firm and polite, and after while, a security supervisor showed up who took our letter and promised to deliver it to a U.S. Bank executive.

By taking action as an organized group, we made the banks listen.  Imagine what would happen if hundreds, or thousands of us tried to make the banks hear us…

Jess Alexander

Jess Alexander is a leader in our work to organize a new economy.