Wade Rathke is the Chief Organizer of ACORN International, Founder and Chief Organizer of ACORN (1970-2008), and Founder and Chief Organizer of Local 100, Service Employees International Union. The views expressed on this website are his own.











Don’t Blame Hispanic Homeowners
January 6, 2009
By Wade Rathke
     


Congressional districts with large Hispanic populations often feature heavy nonprime lending. See how different districts break down in terms of prime and nonprime home loans.
Don’t Blame Hispanic Homeowners
            New Orleans               There was an incredible and irresponsible article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday by Susan Schmidt and Maurice Tamman called “Housing Push for Hispanics Spawns Wave of Foreclosure” in which once again there is an effort to blame the folks at the bottom for the mistakes at the top.&n... [more]   Comments (0)
Category:  Ideas and Issues

Financial Meltdown Coherence
January 5, 2009
By Wade Rathke
      


Financial Meltdown Coherence

            New Orleans               Jim Lynch, my old friend and colleague from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and Ernie Dumas, former editorial page editor for the Arkansas Gazette a million years ago, were early Saturday morning correspondents as they shared a story from The Weekly Standard ... [more]   Comments (1)
Tactical Watch: A Different Drumbeat
January 3, 2009
By Wade Rathke
     



Tactical Watch:  A Different Drumbeat


            New Orleans               The New York State Court of Appeals concluded several months that the drumming being done by SEIU 32B-J on plastic containers, pots, and cans in front of the Empire State Building was neither pre-empted by federal labor law nor seemingly part of their ... [more]   Comments (0)
Category:  Labor Organizing

New Year’s Resolutions
January 2, 2009
By Wade Rathke
     


New Year’s Resolutions
January 2, 2009
   New Orleans               I actually believe in New Year’s Resolutions.  Foolishly, I try to sell family members, co-workers, and others on the power of fresh resolve and conviction in the face of a new year, and note grudgingly how my advocacy seems to take here.  Years ago I used to convince my immediate tribe to take an annual bike ride in the c... [more]   Comments (1)
Category:  Personal Writings

Coty Simmons and the Mean Streets
December 31, 2008
By Wade Rathke
      


Coty Simmons
Coty Simmons and the Mean Streets
            Antigua           We were all stunned by a shattering re-pressurization for entry back into the States, our work, and life in our city – New Orleans.  We had heard the night before from friends and then read on-line in the Times-Picayune that Coty Simmons’ had died along with her unborn child.  She was all of 20 yea... [more]   Comments (0)
Acatenango and the Majesty of Mountains
December 30, 2008
By Wade Rathke
      


Acatenango
Acatenango and the Majesty of Mountains

            Antigua           Vacations are a time for family, recharging, and getting ready for the year to come.  Every once in a while they are also a time for learning something as well or at least being reminded of things that are perhaps too easy to forget.


          &nbs... [more]   Comments (0)
Housing Blame Game
December 29, 2008
By Wade Rathke
      


Housing Blame Game
            Antigua           Reading one story after another as reporters and others try to play the “blame game” for the current economic crises pointing first one way and then another, is getting boring.  They are blasting with a shotgun and hoping to finally hit something and someone, since they really are clueless where they should aim.
  ... [more]   Comments (0)
Christmas Presents
December 27, 2008
By Wade Rathke
      


Myriam Hernandez, left, and Tara Benigno lead a tour of renovated apartments at 114 Straight St. in Paterson. The living spaces are part of an affordable housing project by New Jersey ACORN Housing Corp.
Christmas Presents
                Antigua                Keeping with the festive season here are two presents coming to people in different places of the country.  One is a break for victims of insurance penny pinching and humiliation in post-Katrina New Orleans.  The other proves the value of good, affordable housing as the first units of ... [more]   Comments (0)