Political Quotes

“Well, in some communities there is a lack of both physical and mental healthcare, but I think we still have to deal with the stigma that people don't see mental health as a part of healthcare. I know, in the Chicagoland area, right when I became a Congresswoman, actually, there were six mental health facilities shut down, so if someone wanted help, they may have to take two buses, a taxi, on and on and on. There is such a barrier of not only a facility not being there, but also the ones that are around, it is so hard for people to get to them. And some of the neighborhoods, like I said, people don't even want to come outside because of the violence and some of the particular--not all over, but in some of the neighborhoods. People are traumatized by the block they live on. They don't want to send their kids to play in the park. They don't want to go to the store. To deal with this every day, to hear gunshots every day, to have to deal with violence every day, that affects you on that day, but it affects you years later, also.”