Social service agencies are currently provided much needed services to constituents in Black, Urban and Poor communities and currently turning away thousands for their inability to serve them and I have heard no word from Governor Quinn or President Obama as to where they expect thousands of more constituents in these areas to go and survive with these new round of proposed budget and program cuts to these social service agencies. With record unemployment in Black and poor areas and not enough legitimate sources of income for poor people to make ends meet these social services agencies and their limited resources are the only things that are keeping people alive and away from the illegal and life threatening street environments. Forcing thousands of more people from these social services are putting them right in the very areas of survival that will do nothing but guarantee an increase in crime and even death.

Black and poor people gave their all and the base of electoral victories for Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and President Barack Obama and so it is quite painful for the leaders that they put so much faith and hope in would now be the very ones who are telling them that the pain and suffering they have been feeling is about to get even worse, and forcing many good people into some very bad and life threatening situations to try and survive on the backs of these proposed state and federal budget cuts. While the state and federal budgets say they cannot afford to maintain these social services, yet how much more is now going to have to be absorbed in the criminal justice budgets and jail as many desperate people are now going to be arrested for trying to survive in the gang, drug, and other illegal economies trying to survive these budget cuts.

People who have no other source of legal income to pay their gas and light bills are now expected to find the money where to pay those bills after the LIHEAP program is now faced to cut them? People who would be homeless without rental assistance is now expected to do what to pay their rent after they are cut from state and federal social service programs and no legal job? The disaster stories go on and on when you talk to social service providers to trying to imagine the horrible pain that will occur from these new state and federal cuts.

We have far too many mentally ill walking our streets for lack of proper services and now we are supposed to prepare to add thousands more mentally ill to be cut from their services, walk these streets as disasters just waiting to happen when they snap? And what happens when the result of the aftermath of these cuts result in the physical harm and even death to family, friends and innocent victims. The state and federal governments and our local Black and urban communities will certainly be paying the negative prices on the back end of these budget cuts.

At the County level, I am still trying to understand how we praise those who want to repeal the "Stroger" tax to help fund County services, while just ordering another 10-16% in even more County budget and program cuts for lack of incoming revenue. How are we justifying not needing the "Stroger" tax while cutting even more needed program and services from the County?

At each election Black and poor voters are overwhelmed with why they must vote to elect and re-elect persons to government only to watch those very governments always have to balance budgets on the backs of the programs and service those very Black and poor communities. This is not how to demonstrate how democracy is supposed to work for poor people, as they watch Wall Street have no problems in getting bailed out and stimulus programs that sound good and "transparent" during press conferences, but never see the money ever reach them on main streets.

Black and poor people must begin to turn their pain into the power as the people of Cairo Egypt just did in showing the public demonstrations against the government for serving once class of society at the expense of the poor. And they must fight back while they are alive and well for these proposed budget cuts at the county, state and federal levels are life threatening and even death sentences in Black and poor communities not prepared to handle the pain of these proposed cuts. The poor must fight back. And The Governor and President need to listen and find other ways to balance the budget. I'm in Chicago, so have the candidates for Chicago Mayor had anything to say to the Governor or President on how these cuts are going to have on Black and poor communities as they look for votes from these communities on February 22nd?