CHICAGO, IL – I drove to the city early to take advantage of early bird parking specials, so I arrived just before 8:30 am. The group was scheduled to meet in the park by 11 am, so I had time to walk to the closest bathroom to finish my morning “routine”. Thanks, nearby hotel.
I then decided it would be a good idea to re-scout the route to the target site. I’d completed this task three months prior and didn’t trust my memory.
Folks started to join me in the park shortly, and by 11 am, we had just under 30 activists we had hoped for but still felt more than ready for what awaited us.
WGN, the Chicago Tribune, and a couple of other news outlets interviewed Jose Ocampo, Susan Aarup, and Ebony Payne, then Clark Craig, Tom Wilson, and Jose lined us up in single file while David Pirszel and I moved to the front of the line.
We marched quietly the block and a half to Governor JB Pritzker’s office. I halted the line so David and I could walk in and open the accessible doors from the inside…, but my scouting mission wasn’t a complete success. The door I thought would work was locked, and so David and I had to improvise a little bit. We went through a revolving door a little further down, followed by some courageous members of the press, and I looked frantically for which door to prop open.
“Hey, can we help you?”
I thought, “Yes, you can. Stay out of my way. Ah-ha, there’s our door, and there through the windows I see my people advancing.”
“Sir, you can’t go out that way!”
Then I thought, “Don’t worry, sweetie, I’m not leaving. Me and my friends are just getting started.
What followed was a direct action planned as a non-arrest action but immediately became the kind of action where people would have almost unanimously answered yes to the question: are you willing to go all the way?
“YES! Most of us would’ve answered yes”
Credit security for being relatively quick to respond. Clark, in his scooter, got into the building lobby while Jose and Kevin McPhan got the doors propped with their powerchairs David and I were pulling open as if our lives depended on it. My rush of adrenaline didn’t overcome the sense of calm needed to evaluate and respond in real time. Security guard Colone bent my thumb backwards several times, and I just kept going back in for more, desperate to keep that door open.
Another guard had violently pushed David out of the way, and Patty Martin rushed in to support him, but by then, Jose was so well entrenched into the doorway, there was no need for added support. Security did try to forcefully move Kevin and Jose to no avail.
Colone figured he’d turn on Kevin’s chair and use the joystick to move Kevin away from the door but Colone didn’t count on my calm resolve; I quickly bent down to deactivate one side of Kevin’s chair so the joystick didn’t work.
Apparently, Colone had enough of me and pushed me with such a force, I stumbled with a thud to the pavement. Many rushed to my aid, but I assured them and urged them to stay focused, stay nonviolent, and stay resolved.
After catching my breath, I rose to discover Colone had succeeded in moving Kevin enough to close his half of the exposed doors. I decided it was a good opportunity to be some “sand” in the “rocks” and proceeded to sit down between Kevin and the door, right in front of Colone.
It was relaxing in the storm of organized chaos to simply rest and chant while others led negotiations. Security pointed to me and asked if I was in charge, and I pointed to Jose. Jose was flanked by Tom, and together they held security to the task at hand: we want to meet the governor.
Security assured us Chicago Police were on their way to arrest us (they never showed), they would negotiate with us once we removed ourselves from their doors (this was our ONLY leverage and we knew this was a lie based on our experience six weeks ago), and this was not the way to do business (we know from decades of experience, this is the ONLY way business gets done).
We got distracted a little bit with chants about police abuse but we quickly got back on track with loud chants demanding our people be freed. The Chicago Tribune and the other news outlets stayed during the duration of the action.
Jose was finally invited to meet with a government affairs person, you know, the person with the power to stack paper clips and get us to shut up? That’s okay though; at least it was someone, which is the first signs of momentum in a campaign that started in earnest as early as April, 2026.
Jose got a commitment from the office to schedule a meeting within two weeks, so this group organized into a single file again, chanting: “We’ll be back!”
This morning, my thumbs and thighs are super sore. Some ibuprofen will help.
Monday night, we already have an internal planning meeting scheduled to discuss the next action and there’s only one direction of escalation left to go: up.
How do YOU spell power?
Read a July 2026 People’s Tribune article by Scott Nance on disability justice here.
Scott Nance of Chicago ADAPT Photo by Kathy Powers
