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U. of C. Trauma Center Activists Claim Victory After 5 Years of Protests

By Sam Cholke | December 17, 2015 3:22pm | Updated on December 17, 2015 4:44pm


The death of Shelia Rush's son, Damian Turner, in 2010 sparked protests calling for a trauma center at the University of Chicago.

HYDE PARK — Trauma activists declared victory on Thursday after a five-year battle to get a trauma center on the University of Chicago campus.

The University of Chicago announced on Thursday it would open a trauma center in Hyde Park and scrap plans for a center at Holy Cross Hospital, fulfilling a long-term goal of activist groups that started in Woodlawn.

“It’s been a long five years and I was prepared to do five more,” said Veronica Morris Moore, an organizer with Fearless Leadership by the Youth. “That we realized it in five years is shocking.”

The group claimed victory of its core goal, but said it would continue to pressure the university to fulfill all the promises made Thursday, including a new trauma center, expanding the emergency room and adding inpatient beds.

“The decision by President Robert Zimmer and Dean Kenneth Polonksy of the University of Chicago to listen to the community and concede to the demand to open a level I adult trauma center and save black lives shows that young black people can absolutely impact policy and influence political change for the betterment of the black community,” said Alex Goldenberg, a spokesman for the group.

RELATED: Center May Not Open for Years, Officials Say

Fearless Leadership by the Youth has expanded to issues outside of trauma care since it formed in 2010 and has been a part of protests that called for then-Chicago Police Department Supt. Garry McCarthy to resign and changes to the police department since the shooting death of Laquan McDonald by Officer Jason Van Dyke.

“I’m so happy to be a part of this young black leadership and to see what we have been able to to and for our people,” Moore said.

Fearless Leadership by the Youth formed in 2010 in Woodlawn in the wake of 18-year-old Damian Turner’s death.

In 2010, Turner was shot in the heart five blocks from the University of Chicago’s hospital and died during the 11-minute trip downtown to Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Turner’s death outraged many in the community, who believed the university’s emergency room should have been able to treat Turner. When Turner’s mother, Shelia Rush, discovered that her son required a specialized trauma care surgeon to treat his injuries, a doctor that isn’t on staff at any South Side hospital, she rallied Turner’s friends to press the university to open a trauma center.

Moore was among those friends, a group that has remained surprisingly consistent through Thursday’s announcement.

“This is what our young activists really wanted,” said state Sen. Mattie Hunter (D-Chicago), an early supporter of the group. “The kids won.”

The group’s tactics were often savvy and treaded the line of becoming divisive.

In June, nine protesters were arrested after barricading themselves in a university building and were only removed after the Chicago Fire Department broke down a wall.

It’s hard to say how much impact the group had.

Hunter said she couldn’t be sure whether the protests did more than keep attention high.

SLIDESHOW: South Side Trauma Protests Through the Years

Protesters said they did meet with Polonsky at the university several times in recent months, but he gave no indication that the trauma center plan was moving to campus.

It’s unlikely the group will go away as it has become firmly entrenched in ongoing actions around police misconduct and other political issues.

And organizers said they will continue to press on health care issues.

“We are winning and need to dream bigger and demand more to create a society where healthcare is a human right and all human rights are respected,” Goldenberg said. “We are calling on everyone who has struggled with us and all oppressed people to dream bigger.”


A Chicago firefighter cuts through a bike lock that protesters used to barricade themselves in the building.


Trauma protesters broke into a University of Chicago construction site demanding the university open new medical facilities for the victims of car accidents and gunshot wounds.

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