After chaos and looting tore apart Chicago’s Magnificent Mile and caused upwards of $60 million in damage, Black Lives Matter Chicago held a rally to protest the arrests of the criminals responsible.
An organizer of the protest brazenly claimed that the damage done to the city constituted “reparations.” According to Ariel Atkins of BLM, “Anything they wanted to take, they can take it because these businesses have insurance.“
Chicago Police said Monday morning’s act of mayhem was ignited by false reports that police had shot and killed a child. A coordinated effort was organized on social media and caravans of rioters flooded into the downtown shopping district.
Despite dispatching 400 officers, police were unable to control the waves of incoming looters as they drove cars through luxury storefronts and shot at officers trying to make arrests. Thirteen patrolmen were injured.
As far as Atkins is concerned, “I don’t care if someone decides to loot a Gucci or Nike store.” According to him the thefts “makes sure a person eats. That makes sure that person has clothes.”
In a press conference Monday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said, “What occurred in our downtown was abject criminal behavior.” She continued, “There cannot be any excuse for it.”
The excuse rioters had didn’t even turn out to be a good one. Despite rumors of a child shooting, it was revealed that officers had simply returned fire upon a 20-year-old suspect fleeing capture. “He was not a juvenile. He was not unarmed.” The Mayor reported.
Lightfoot was disturbed that looters targeted the small local businesses and restaurants that were still trying to recover from pandemic closures. Despite Atkins claims, many of them lack the insurance coverage to pay for their losses.
Police Superintendent David Brown said that looters were emboldened by the lack of consequences from the Chicago riots earlier this summer. He suggested that they were not “prosecuted to the fullest extent.”
The Mayor took a shot at State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, whose office has dismissed 25,000 felony cases during her tenure, including charges against Empire’s Jussie Smollett’s for reporting a fake attack. “We have made the case,” Lightfoot stated, then called upon Foxx to “make sure these individuals are arrested and held accountable.”
In a rival press conference, Foxx claimed 300 defendants charged with felony crimes in June still had pending cases, as courts have just re-opened in July. “The notion that people believe they are somehow empowered because people weren’t prosecuted for looting back in the wake of the unrest beginning is simply not true.” Foxx countered.
For now, the city of Chicago remains on lockdown as bridges, tunnels, and freeway exits are blocked. A curfew has been put in place and a heavy police presence will patrol the city until further notice. Lightfoot insists there is no need for President Trump’s assistance. “We do not need federal troops in Chicago.”
She might want to reconsider. Black Lives Matter Chicago released a foreboding statement: “The mayor clearly has not learned anything since May, and she would be wise to understand that the people will keep rising up until the [Chicago Police Department] is abolished.”
