ST. LOUIS — About 25 protestors gathered outside the new north St. Louis location of Homer G. Phillips Hospital on Saturday. They allege that north city developer Paul McKee is appropriating their culture by naming a health clinic after the original Homer G. Phillips Hospital.
They say the new facility is a clinic, not a hospital, and the name is not McKee’s to give.
Protestors chanted on the sidewalk along Jefferson, south of Cass, and then carried their signs right up the driveway of the new facility. The signs read “Change the Name.”
Missouri State Rep. Rasheen Aldridge, a Democrat from St. Louis, said, “Homer G. Phillips Hospital? This ain’t no hospital. I toured this hospital a couple months ago. It’s not up to the par of stories I heard of what Homer G. was. You’re talking about a 700-bed hospital, 700-plus. This is like three emergency room beds and 16 waiting rooms. That’s a slap in the face.”
The Homer G. Phillips hospital was once the only hospital for Blacks in St. Louis, at a time when medical treatment was segregated along racial lines. Protesters say naming this facility after Homer G. Phillips is nothing short of misappropriating Black culture in St. Louis.
“This is unacceptable,” said Aldridge. “This is a disrespect to the Black community. This is a clinic. The fact that you all have a clinic, and you’re trying to name it Homer G. Phillips? Shame, and with no community buy-in. Who does that?”
Yvonne Jones is a member of the Homer G. Phillips Nurses Alumni organization.
“Homer G. Phillips Hospital was located at 2601 Whittier from 1937-1979 in The Ville neighborhood,” she said, reading from a statement.
In the past, a McKee representative indicated they are adding a 100-bed expansion to the new facility. Through a representative, McKee has also said while they respect the right of those who disagree with their efforts to bring a life-saving facility to a healthcare desert, “We have no intentions to re-examine the naming of this hospital."
Zenodia Thompson is co-chair of the Campaign for Human Dignity.
“We cannot and will not tolerate the legacy of attorney Homer G. Phillips and Homer G. Phillips Hospital being diminished, tarnished, and debased,” said Thompson.
Campaign for Human Dignity co-chair Walle Amusa said, “This is an injustice. It is insane to disrespect an entire community, to refuse to meet, to think you can take any aspect of anybody’s legacy and misuse it without any willingness to sit down. What is so outrageous about sitting down and meeting with the representatives of this community?”
Attempts to reach a representative of developer Paul McKee to get a statement from him were unsuccessful on Saturday.