A South Side minister and a handful of fellow activists, promising to maintain a fast and vigil for the next 40 days and 40 nights, have stepped into the highly charged custody battle between the biological mother of “Baby T” and the politically powerful Burke family.
Whether the activists’ involvement will affect the courtroom battle even slightly is debatable, but it makes a messy public issue even messier.
For several hours Monday morning, Rev. Albert Sampson strode outside the Southwest Side home of Chicago Ald. Edward Burke (14th) and his wife, Illinois Appellate Court Judge Anne Burke, more than 8 miles away from his Fernwood United Methodist Church at 10057 S. Wallace St.
Sampson, who pushed a baby carriage containing a Bible, vowed to quit eating and remain at the home for 40 days or until the Burkes cede custody of the 2 1/2-year-old boy.
“We feel Ed Burke should not use his political arrogance to steal a baby,” said Sampson, pacing in front of the Burkes’ tree-shaded house on South Campbell Avenue and wearing a heavy red robe and new white sneakers. “We need to suffer because this child will suffer.”
The Burkes became foster parents to the infant about 2 months after the child was born cocaine-positive in February 1996. The boy’s mother, Tina Olison, completed a drug rehabilitation program and now wants the child returned, although a 1997 report by the Juvenile Protection Association questioned Olison’s “intense and menacing anger.” The case has drawn media attention amid allegations of political favoritism toward the Burkes.
Just hours after the vigil began, however, it was rerouted to Burke’s 14th Ward Democratic headquarters, 2650 W. 51st St., when Chicago police threatened to arrest Sampson. Police cited a law forbidding protests outside residential homes. As long as the demonstration remains peaceful, the activists can stay outside the 14th Ward Headquarters, a police watch commander said.
Sampson argued that the black child should not be raised in a white family of Irish descent. He said such an upbringing will lead to isolation and confusion for the boy.
The pastor also said he does not believe that a Kane County judge assigned to the case to avoid a possible conflict of interest from a Cook County judge will award custody to the child’s biological mother, even though Sampson said she has been drug-free for some time. Sampson and his followers said the Burkes’ political power is too vast.
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Sampson said he hopes the vigil will spur the Burkes to give up custody on their own.
“We’re hoping that within 40 days, God will change (the Burkes’) mind,” said Sampson. His fast represents the 40 days and nights that Jesus fasted in the desert, according to the Bible’s Gospel of Matthew.
The Burkes have never spoken publicly about the case and could not be reached for comment Monday. They are scheduled to give depositions next week, and a trial is scheduled for September.
Olison’s lawyer said she doubted the vigil will affect the court proceedings. Kane County Judge Judith Brawka has been assigned to handle the case in Cook County.
“I don’t think that anything from the outside is going to influence this judge,” attorney Anita Rivkin-Carothers said.
A spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, which terminated Olison’s parental rights and has supported the Burkes as foster parents, called the protest “unfortunate.” She worried that it could inhibit the adoption of other children.
“It can scare potential foster parents away if they know they can be subjected to this kind of media exposure and partisan action,” DCFS spokeswoman Maudlyne Iherjirika said.
Patrick Murphy, the Cook County Public Guardian, said the public demonstration further clouds the real issue: “Is (Olison) unfit or not unfit? . . . Has she done what DCFS has asked or not? Those should be the only issues.”