New York, NY – Civil rights group ColorOfChange.org, has launched a campaign calling on the Obama administration to hold Wall Street banks accountable for their role in creating and profiting from the country’s housing crisis, which has displaced an estimated 7 million families from their homes. The administration and state law enforcement officials from across the country are currently in negotiations with several of the nation’s biggest banks and are expected to announce a settlement on an investigation in the coming weeks.

“The Obama administration has a critical choice to make. The President can cut a deal that lets Wall Street off the hook or he can commit to a full investigation into the banks and the damage they’ve caused,” said Rashad Robinson, executive director of ColorOfChange.org. “An investigation would create real accountability and move us on the road to recovery while preventing future reckless behavior from the banking and mortgage industry.”

The housing crisis and the economic downturn it triggered has hit Black people particularly hard. The mortgage industry targeted prospective home buyers with toxic loans and ballooning interest rates, and engaged in systemic predatory lending and mortgage fraud — including unlawful foreclosures, false documentation, and “robo-signing” of foreclosure documents. Subprime and predatory lending, foreclosures, and plummeting home values have devastated Black wealth, which has fallen to its lowest level in 25 years, according to the Pew Research Center.

Efforts opposing a sweetheart settlement deal are growing. A group of state attorneys general from New York, Delaware, Nevada, Minnesota, Kentucky and California have said they will not agree to a settlement on matters which haven’t been investigated. California AG Kamala Harris and Nevada AG Catherine Cortez Masto have gone a step further, initiating a joint mortgage investigation alliance to assist homeowners who have been harmed by misconduct and fraud in order to bring state-based civil and criminal prosecutions.

“Our nation needs and deserves a full investigation, accountability and relief for the millions of people hurt during this crisis and we cannot settle on a bad deal for America’s economic future,” continued Robinson. “We cannot remain silent and we cannot accept a settlement that lets the banks responsible for this crisis off the hook.”

The campaign can be viewed here: https://colorofchange.org/campaign/banks-accountable/

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With more than 800,000 members, ColorOfChange.org is the nation’s largest African-American online political organization.