Chicago Action — Jim Thompson Building
Today started a tad different. I was one of the folks doing some covert ops, so I covered up my ADAPT gear, doffed my red flag, and took off a few minutes earlier with David, from Texas. We took the scenic route around, but wound up running into a couple of cops, who kept advising us to join the protest. We told the cops that we were doing the tourist thing today, and hoped that they believed us, which I doubted. We met Mike, from Kansas behind the Staples, and off we went on a route out of Hades, dodging cops. we got to the State of Illinois Building, also called the Jim Thompson Building, a bit early. Being a native Chicagoan, I have vivid memories of watching this building go up, and those memories are joined by memories of the last time that ADAPT was here back in 1992.
David and I go buy a sandwich and a drick at the sandwich shop, then, I wander into the Sweet Shop to get some gourmet jelly beans, then, we both wander into Wolf Camera, where David quizzes the lady behind the counter about camera film and batteries. The lady knows her stuff. As it happens, Wolf Camera is right by the doors, and we slowly sidle near them, waiting for the signal.
Suddenly, a whistle blows, and all hell breaks loose. David and I immediately catch a door, and block it open so that everyone can get in. The ADAPT Bum rush on the building happens so fast that within a couple of minutes, everyone is in, blocking escalators, doors, elevators, even the CTA train station gates! A couple of Chicago folks do make it to the 14th floor, where the governor’s office is, and we settle down for what we know will be a long day.
Wanting to be flexible in my movements, I move form place to place, wherever I am needed. At first, I’m at an escalator, then, I find myself at one of the CTA El stop stations. I pass out flyers, and explaint to people who we are, and why were are here. I ask people to call the Governor, and ask that he not open any more institutions. Governor Blagojevich seems bent on opening the Lincoln Developmental Center, a state “school” (read institution) for people with developmental delays. Shamefully, Illinois ranks 45 out of 50 in home health and community-based services for people with disabilities. All of the people that I speak to are very supportive. I only encounter one person with a bad attitude so far.
I feel a sense of deja vu as once again, I run into someone out of my past. The last time, it was an old boyfriend from back in the days when I was trying to please my family, not knowing that they already guessed that I was a Lesbian, and had no problems with it. Alonzo was my last boyfriend, and when I left Chicago, I thought I’d seen the last of him. Imagine my surprise when, during the action in this very building, on this very floor back in 1992, I heard someone call my name, and ask me to let him get upstairs so that he could get his state ID. I recognized Alonzo, then, took mass pleasure in telling him NO, and directing him to get a flyer and read it. He couldn’t believe that I was with ADAPT! He told me that he was proud of me, then, soon left.
This time, while handing out flyers, I heard a voice behind me say, “I have firsthand knowledge of this because my mother is in a nursing home.” The guy came up and began talking. I recognized his voice, and his blur, and asked him his name. He said, “Harry.” It was none other than my old colleague, Harry Brooks, with whom I worked with at CTA back in the days when we were both Transit Information Agents. I was a young thing of 19, then, and working my way through college, since the scholarship that I’d gotten was nowhere near enough to pay the bills. We shared some memories, I gave Harry a flyer, and he was on his way.
After passing out flyers, I go around chanting and singing, trying to keep folks pumped up. Johnny sings some songs, some of which are new. There is ADAPT police tape and cut-outs of the governor, and Abe Lincoln everywhere. Time is getting on, so we bump it up. We take over both CTA gates. At first, the police and transit cops try to stop us, but we are relentless. I did the ADAPT fling out of my chair, joining others on the floor to help block the gates so that no one could come or go. We explain to folks that though they may be inconvenienced for a few hours, people were dying in nursing homes and other institutions. One lady starts freaking, and trying to push her way through. I end up being stepped on by her, and a transit cop. That lady was the last person to get through our line. When the transit cops and others knew that they couldn’t outlast or outmanuver us, they gave it up, shut down the station, and left. When by 5:00 we still had not heard anything, we bumped it up some more, and got through the abandoned gates, and blocked the last door to the CTA station, as well as the stairs and escalators beyond the gates. Now, no one truely was going nowhere!
Once the CTA station was truely shut down, and the action began to affect CTA, itself, it seemed that those slowpoke governor’s folks began to realize that ADAPT meant business, they came around quickly, and we got three great victories:
1. The Governor’s office committed to close Lincoln Developmental Center PERMANENTLY!
2. Rahnee Patrick and other Chicago ADAPT members would be at the table when the state sets up the Illinois Money Follows The Person Project, and will help in its direction.
3. Governor Blagojevich will meet with ADAPT before October 17, 2007.
Here is a link to the article in the Chicago Tribune:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0911adapt_websep12,1,7988613.story