Future nurse plans to leave Illinois for Georgia and “more money”

September 26th, 2008 at 10:59am Chuck Sweeny

Tomeka Watkins lives in Park Forest, Ill. She and her two children, Amarie, 4, and Aaron, 8, are traveling to Jackson, Miss., today along with a cousin, Aeriel, 8, to visit family.

Watkins is in her final year of nursing school at Prairie State College in Chicago. When she graduates in 24 weeks, “I’m going to Georgia, where I can make more money than in Illinois. The economy is better there,” Watkins says.

Her issues in this election year are jobs, taxes, the war and the stock market.

” We need to create a lot of new businesses that provide jobs for our community,” she says. “Taxes are too high, my (property tax) just went up.” The middle class is subsidizing health care for the poor, she says, and if the squeeze continues, “you’re going to end up with only rich and poor people. The middle class will be gone.”

About the financial mess on Wall Street, Watkins is flummoxed. “I think it’s bad we have to make up for their mistakes, but if we don’t do it, more businesses will close and we’ll lose more jobs.”

Watkins plans to vote for Obama on Nov. 4. She hopes that the Democrat’s talk of change is more than just a campaign promise.

SCOTT MORGAN | RRSTAR.COM
Tomika Watkins studies for nursing school with her children Amarie Watkins, 4, niece Aeriel Turner, 8, and Aaron Watkins, 8, Friday, Sept. 26, 2008, on the City of New Orleans Amtrak train between Chicago and New Orleans, La.

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