In Retaliation for a Downtown Protest, Cook County Public Guardian’s Office Evicts Senior Citizen, Sets Family’s Belongings on the Curb

As employees with the Cook County Public Guardian’s office removed Mildred Willis’ belongings from her Calumet Park home at 1130 W. 105th Street, her neighbors and supporters from across the city are rallying to keep the Willis family in their home.

These efforts to stop the Willis family’s eviction come one week after they rallied downtown outside the offices of the Public Guardian’s office, calling for Mildred Willis to be released from the Renaissance nursing home and allowed to return home.

“I can’t believe they are doing this,” exclaimed Stacy Willis, Mildred Willis’ daughter. “My mother is still in the nursing home. Where am I supposed to put her things? Where are my son and I supposed to go?”

On August 25th, Stacy Willis and other family members rallied outside of the Cook County Public Guardian’s office to deliver more than three thousand petitions calling on the Public Guardian’s office to halt their efforts to evict the Willis family and to return Mildred Willis to her home. In response to this demonstration, the head of the Public Guardian’s office, Robert F. Harris offered to meet with Mildred Harris’ family and after meeting, to look into their complaints.

However, instead of working with the Willis family, the Public Guardian’s office directed the Cook County Sheriff’s office to evict them at gunpoint. While changing the locks on their Calumet Park home, the Public Guardian’s office promised that Mildred Willis’ belongings would not be set out on the street and that they would have an opportunity to arrange to have their belongings picked up by a moving truck.

Rather than following through on this agreement, the Public Guardian’s office began removing all of the Willis family belongings this morning, the day after their eviction. When Mildred’s daughter inquired as to why this would be the case, the Public Guardian’s office informed them that even though they had no way of moving their belongings that “this is the way it was going to be.”

For the Willis family, this doubles the pain of having to deal with being forcibly evicted from their home. Not only is the family in a situation where they had to sleep in a police station because they had no place to go, now they face the prospect of having all of their possessions stolen or ruined by the rain simply because the Cook County Public Guardian’s office would not allow them to make arrangements to collect their belongings.

For more information, contact the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign 773-236-0559.