Voters in the Sixth, 20th, and 33rd Wards voted on a referendum urging the city to reopen mental health clinics and send care workers instead of cops to crises.In this November’s midterm, Chicagoans in three wards encompassing neighborhoods from Auburn Gresham to Albany Park voted overwhelmingly in support of a referendum asking if the city should reopen its closed public mental health centers in support of a crisis response system that would not involve police.
Legrier’s story is unfortunately not rare. Policing and other approaches to mental health that meet people in need of care with force or punishment often have incredibly harmful consequences and exacerbate problems. In addition to theat which police kill people with mental illness, law enforcement interactions with those in crisis commonly result in a person being injured, incarcerated, or enduring further psychological distress.
On Election night, surrounded by a few dozen volunteers tired from a long day of talking to voters, we started refreshing the Board of Elections website as soon as the polls closed.
The powerful display of public opinion reflected by the referendum results came ten years after former mayor Rahm Emanuel shut down half the city’s remaining mental health clinics in a supposed move to save a mere $3 million. In the mid-1990s, there were nineteen city-run mental health clinics. By 2012, there were twelve.
Chicago communities most impacted by the compounding crises of mental health, policing, divestment, and other forms of structural violence have made our voices loud and clear on this issue for years. When Mayor Richard M. Daley first tried to shut down some of the city’s mental health clinics, community forces came together in protest and were able to effectively stop him.