On Aug. 27, patients and workers in Chicago
staged a demonstration outside the office of Mayor Richard Daley to protest the
potential closing of five mental health facilities located mostly on the city’s
South side.
Chicago has only 12 mental health clinics in
the entire city. The closings would mean a tremendous loss of desperately
needed services for people who could easily find themselves homeless or in jail
without them. State funding for the clinics has recently been cut in half. The
cuts are being blamed on supposed computer errors and the state’s budget
crisis.
The demonstration was organized by Southside Together Organizing for Power. Protesters, including members of the Party of
Socialism and Liberation, delivered 1,000 signed letters to the mayor’s office
demanding the clinics remain open. “Money for clinics, not the Olympics!” rang
through the corridors of City Hall. Signs chastized Mayor Daley for allocating
hundreds of millions of dollars in city funds to bid for hosting the 2016
Olympics and handing over $50
million to United Airlines to relocate to the city, all while
threatening to cut social services and privatizing public wealth.
Just before the protest, Chicago Department of
Public Health Commissioner Terry Mason gave a press conference claiming that
the city has retracted its plan to close the clinics. A previous attempt back
in April to close down four facilities was thwarted by a similar mobilization
by patients. However, such promises made by Chicago’s city government are often
broken.
Forty workers employed at the four previously
closed clinics were thrown out of work. When the clinics were reopened, the
city claimed it would rehire the workers. So far, only four have gotten their
jobs back. “If you don’t guarantee something your word doesn’t mean anything,”
said Nadonna Carter, a patient at the Greater Grand Clinic, one of the clinics
that faced the chopping block. Carter said that patients would not be satisfied
until they had a promise in writing.
There is absolutely no excuse for the city of
Chicago to cut these essential health services while never denying a single
cent to the ruling, big-money interests. The rich have robbed the people of
Chicago long enough. Workers must stand up and defend those who are the most
vulnerable to capitalist abuses. Stop all service cuts now!
