Sunday Night and early Monday Morning, looters sacked Chicago’s upscale shopping area on Michigan Avenue, nicknamed the “Magnificent Mile.” The rioting and looting was purportedly in response to rumors that police had shot a young, unarmed black man. But the rumors proved false. The man in question, 20-year-old Latrell Allen, was armed and fired at police first; the police returned fire and hit Allen in the shoulder. Allen has been charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder and one count of possession of a concealed weapon. His bond was raised to $1 million on Monday.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot disputes that there was anything spontaneous about the looting on Michigan Avenue:
“When people showed up on Michigan Avenue in the downtown area with U-Haul trucks and cargo vans, and sophisticated equipment used to cut metal, and the methods that were used, and how quickly it got spun up . . . that wasn’t any spontaneous reaction,” Lightfoot told Time Magazine. “that’s organized criminal activity . . . It was a planned attack.”
But Black Lives Matter Chicago brazenly defended the looting. It issued a none-too-subtle threat to Mayor Lightfoot that the looting would continue until she consents to the Abolition of the Chicago Police Department:
“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 and our Black communities are fully invested in,”
On Monday afternoon, about 200 Black Lives Matter protesters gathered outside a police station in the South Loop to show solidarity for about 100 looters who had been arrested the night before. The BLM activists carried a sign reading: “OUR FUTURES HAVE BEEN LOOTED FROM US . . . LOOT BACK.”
“I don’t care if someone decides to loot a Gucci or a Macy’s or a Nike store, because that makes sure that person eats,” Ariel Atkins, a BLM organizer, said. “That makes sure that person has clothes.” “That is reparations,” Atkins said. “Anything they wanted to take, they can take it because these businesses have insurance.”
Many cling to the idea that Black Lives Matter is a civil rights organization of some sort, but it is becoming increasingly clear that BLM is a loose, nationwide coalition of racketeers.
Brief video Clip of Chicago NBC5’s coverage of BLM rally in support of looters: