By: Mark Glennon*
You have to hand it to Black Lives Matter Chicago. Friday evening played out beautifully, as they must see things. From inception through execution, they got exactly the results they seek, including violent confrontation with the police, more chaos, more division, yet a mostly sympathetic or indifferent response from officeholders and the media.
BLM needed help to pull that off. That help has been coming from countless individual supporters, proud to show their allegiance with signs in their manicured yards. Dozens of major corporations have followed the herd sending money to BLM.
Blame those supporters, not just BLM rioters themselves, for the violence. Standing up for racial equality under the BLM banner may have earlier been an excusable error, but not anymore.
What happened in Chicago’s Grant Park on Friday is the best illustration yet, as we will explain.
What are BLM supporters thinking? Maybe some have missed how thoroughly the evidence has been compiled that BLM is violent, Marxist, antisemitic, anti-family and just plain nuts with demands like entirely abolishing the police, prisons and the entire Illinois Department of Corrections.**
It’s far more likely that most would say – and you often hear this – that it’s not the organization but the “movement” they support. Black Lives Matter is also just a phrase in the movement for racial justice, they say.
But that’s precisely the problem, and it’s BLM’s secret sauce for stoking violence and pursuing its revolution. The phrase is melded with the organization and its violent agenda. You’re for racial justice, aren’t you? Sending a check to BLM or putting up a sign proves it. Just don’t dare question either the movement or the organization. The severity of the consequences of questioning either one ensures that there’s no place for nuance so, whether intentional or not, the BLM phrase will continue to be conflated with the BLM organization.
The end result is disastrous. No major officeholder or media in Illinois, to my knowledge, has challenged anything about BLM. Tens of millions of dollars have been donated to BLM by America’s biggest companies on down – the very companies that would be confiscated if BLM had its way. Not a word of criticism has been directed to BLM for its role in Friday’s riot.
Here is what happened Friday, showing BLM’s role and why BLM can assume it has a green light to do more of the same. It was very different from what’s being described in most news stories.
During the week prior, BLM Chicago heavily promoted what they called a Black, Indigenous Solidarity Rally, under their own name and using hashtags like #Fuck12Friday. Beyond their primary message about abolishing the police and prisons, they tried to broaden their base a bit by bringing in some Native Americans with calls to decolonize Zhigaagoong, their word for Chicago. They demand that all land east of Michigan Avenue be “rematriated” to, well, it’s not entirely clear which of the many tribes that inhabited that land at one time or another would get it.
With colonization in the mix, one target was clear – the Columbus statue in Grant Park.
If you were on Twitter Friday around 7PM to 9 PM, you could watch what unfolded in video and images thanks, in part, to what BLM itself broadcast.
Around 7:20, as they neared the Columbus statue, many in the crowd changed into all-black clothing and masks and immediately attacked the police, throwing frozen water bottles, rocks, fireworks and other objects.
The cops were vastly outnumbered and surrounded. They called repeatedly for help, as reported by CWB Chicago, which monitors police radio traffic. “Call more units to the Columbus statue! 10-1! Police emergency,” said one another. They were being “attacked by a mob,” said another.
“I live in one of the high rises in South Loop and witnessed it from my apartment in person,” said one of our commenters here. “It resembled the Battle of Bull Run. The cops that fortified the statue were outnumbered 4-1 while on receiving end of projectiles and fireworks.”
The mob then went after the Columbus statue and managed to get a rope around it to pull it down.
But the police, unlike what we’ve seen so often in other cities, fought on to save the statue. They succeeded, though 18 cops were injured and the statue covered with graffiti.
You can find plenty of video of the attack on YouTube. One is below.
By Saturday morning, BLM was back on its social media platform spinning the event as a police riot and announcing that all arrestees had been bailed out. BLM gets outside help on bail money, too.
BLM is surely thrilled with the aftermath. Most press stories refer to the rioters as “protesters.” The statue wasn’t vandalized, it was “tagged,” one wrote. Claims of police misconduct are getting as much attention as the attack on the police. Some of those claims may well be valid since it’s hard to imagine any cop could stay within the rules of engagement in a situation so tense and dangerous.
Any criticism of BLM by leading politicians?
Mayor Lori Lightfoot gave a statement that began with what’s more like an endorsement of a righteous protest:
Hundreds took to the streets yesterday to express their First Amendment right to protest. I unequivocally support and will always fight for the rights of individuals to peacefully protest on any issue. The history and stories of the lives of Indigenous People here in Chicago need to be lifted up and celebrated. There is a dialogue that must be had to honestly confront the deeply ingrained history of racism and discrimination that has subjected Black, Indigenous and other communities of color in our city and our nation for too long.
She included only her standard, perfunctory lines about violence: “Unfortunately, last night, a portion of the protesters turned violent… These violent acts are unacceptable and put everyone at risk.” Nothing about BLM. Nothing thanking the cops for their bravery defending each other and the statue.
Governor JB Pritzker? Not a word.
Editorial condemnation of BLM? Nothing so far in Illinois.
Many Chicago alderman are openly siding with the rioters, blaming the violence on police.
Riots like Friday night’s almost certainly will continue. Police can’t stop them because they are outnumbered and get no support from the city or the Cook County State’s Attorney, Kim Foxx, who routinely lets arrestees off.
It’s not just Chicago. A reporter for UnHerd spent a month traveling the country to see the scale of damage from the “movement,” which he says is “almost incomprehensible.”
Who blessed the violence? Is there any doubt that the “protesters” feel enobled by the “movement’s” BLM obsession, including their yard signs? What could be wrong with going to a BLM orchestrated “rally” when so many socially conscious Americans carry its banner?
And as for BLM’s corporate contributors, they’d be wise to remember Vladimir Lenin’s words: “The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them.”
BLM violence will continue as long as the public, directly or indirectly, gives BLM free rein to organize riots. Using the BLM phrase as a call for racial justice might initially have been just a mistake, but that time has passed. No more excuses.
If you stand up for racial justice — and you should — then ditch the BLM yard signs. Find a better slogan than Black Lives Matter. Defund its network.
And big salute to the police who kept their cool for the most part and didn’t abandon the statue to the mob.
*Mark Glennon is founder of Wirepoints.
**Many sources have now documented BLM’s radical and violent agenda, including Marxism and antisemitism, but The Federalist has multiple stories that are particularly good, collected here.
Chicago Cops doing the best they can. Just drive around and try to rack up overtime to spike their pensions for luxury homes in Florida at a young age.
24 shot, 2 fatally, in 24 hours in Chicago
All you Trump supporters –
Put up a yard sign saying “Black Live do not matter” and see how that works out for you.
Cops have been abusing minorities in Chicago for Years. Time to stop right now.
Illinois “Land of Slavery”
Burn, Loot, Mayhem is what we stand for. Now give me some more free shit.
Land east of Michigan Avenue? Way back when, in Injun times, that was chiefly swampy. Don’t you just hate it when loudmouths, who terrorize the meek, are dumber than dog shit when it comes to history? Time to re-read The Wacker Plan, etc.
A more accurate slogan would be, Black Lives Matter When They are Ended by White Cops and We Can Profit From Their Deaths
You are so correct. ☹️
Isn’t Shaun King affiliated with Black Lives Matter? ?
According to BLM donations website, monies are directed to ActBlue. What is ActBlue? A web-based platform that’s funneling an unprecedented amount of cash from individual donors to Democratic candidates. According to the fine print: ActBlue Charities is a registered charitable organization formed to democratize charitable giving. Donations to charities (501(c)(3) organizations) and social welfare groups (501(c)(4) organizations) are not subject to any contributions limits. In 2018 election cycle, ActBlue raised over $1 billion in contributions to Democratic candidates and causes in this election cycle. There it is – and why Lightfoot, Pritzker, Durbin support BLM. BLM is a front See:… Read more »
FYI: Joe Biden is a top beneficiary of the ActBlue’s fundraising efforts. As of May 21st, the organization has donated $119,253,857 to the “Biden for President” effort.
Is the Black Lives Matter Organization a Money Laundering Scheme?
Managing director for the Black Lives Matter organization— Kailee Scales — conducted a disastrous Reddit AMA, during which she was hard pressed to disclose where and how exactly the money received from donations to BLM was being used. Interestingly, she refused to answer said questions, and the ensuing controversy was enough for moderators to lock the thread….
My understanding after looking into that is that not true — that ActBlue is basically a service provider kind of like a payments processor that many Democrats and left organizations use for funding. My further understanding is that they don’t co-mingle donations, so BLM contributions would not go to a Dem candidate, for example. The GOP and the right have a similar outfit they use, I read. If somebody has better info, I have an open mind and would like to hear it.
Love to know the corporates donating and supporting this BLM group. Time to boycott there products and services
Next door neighbor, educated and successful, is example #1 in the stupid that is so pervasive today. It her opinion it is okay that the rioters have destroyed other’s property… I asked her how it was okay – she didn’t try to answer and just said “they” were frustrated and weren’t being heard. I was flabbergasted that she thought it was okay. She is a well meaning, reasonably educated person… Who owes her success to some hard work, some skill, and some luck (as do we all). Unbelievable.
I’m not speaking hyperbolically or being overly dramatic. These people are communists and marxists. I remember an extremely intelligent and and educated guy at my gym who was quiet and family owned a pallet building company. I didn’t think much of it when he said the communists from earlier haven’t gone away–they just relocated into education and are growing by indoctrination. That was over 10 years ago. Vladimir Lenin was about equality. Do you hear much about wealth inequality more every year? Property rights for the individual are virtually gone in communism. In the latest riots, how many times have… Read more »
One reason for it is that so many people simply don’t know what Marxist or Communist means anymore. They really don’t. You did here what I have often been doing, which is sort of assuming those are known horrors. Add that ignorance to the concerns about inequality and people just say, “hey, sounds good. Equality and free stuff.”
Sorry for my typos. I’m on a mobile device trying do 40 things at once.
Sadly Mark, they also are ignorant to the substance of our republic and our “American Dream…” It guarantees nothing but the pursuit of happiness – they conflate equality of opportunity with equality of outcome… Hence Marxism, communism, and socialism… They also misunderstand the “Greatest Happiness Principle”. They believe it means EVERYONE must be satisfied instead of the choices that result in the achievement of happiness for the largest group.
What we are seeing is the logical outgrowth of union driven, crappy education.
We can thank our less than worthless government schools for turning out ignorance on a commercial scale. Shut the schools for a year. Best thing that could happen to the kids. If they can’t LEARN MORE on their own than from union “teachers” they’ve got real problems. Do parents up here have any idea of WHAT their kids are being taught? Grades mean nothing. What are they LEARNING? Hate America? Despise their White Privilege? Feel guilty? Know all about the Global Warming fantasy? The Racism fantasy? Those things should really help in the real world. NOT.
Even worse are the people that call everything fascist, yet they are the fascists themselves. What’s up is down.
As a thought experiment, let’s head down to Marquette Park and take down the MLK monument. What kind of reaction would be expected?
Marquette Park is very unsafe today.
☹️
Where do all the self-loathing nitwits on the Northshore come from? Are they really that stupid? No more to their lives than SLOGANS? I remember seeing them lined up at the bookstore, with their daughters, to meet the loathsome Hillary Clinton! Some role-model!
Try this one: GEORGE SOROS…WE LOVE YOU!!!!
Many have inherited wealth – they live in a fantasy land with mush for brains.
I asked some of them who are friends what changes they hoped to see when they went to that huge women’s march downtown. Some of same ones with the BLM signs were the same ones who wore those silly pink p—y hats to it. Not one named anything. Next year they will have something else to be riding their high horses about.
Those supporters have no idea that they will lose their wealth to those idiots!
What about what else happened Friday? The people of Illinois say they are tired of being tax to the point many leave Illinois yet no one stands up to the CORRUPTION OF MIKE MADIGAN, JB PRITZER & MANY MANY OTHERS FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DONT CARE THAT THEY HAVE BEEN STEALING YOU MONEY & LIVELIHOOD HERE IN ILLINOIS WHO ENDORSE BLM BUT IGNORE THE CRIMINAL ACTS OF GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS HERE IS A REMINDER https://https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5zwUEOQKC-dksx6TFPcgf8IM9pT0IsH-www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5zwUEOQKC-dksx6TFPcgf8IM9pT0IsH- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5zwUEOQKC-dksx6TFPcgf8IM9pT0IsH- THE DEMOCRATS THAT HAVE BEEN ROBBING CHICAGO BLIND HAVE OFFICIALLS HAVE HAD THEIR RECORDS RAID AND ARE IN DEEP THEY HAVE BEEN CAUGHT STEALING… Read more »
Again we need a national tazer law protecting police. Say no – ZAP!
It’s really, true, as this prominent UK prof says, that “It’s not an exaggeration to compare the methods used by the new ‘woke movement’ to those of Mao’s Red Guards.” An America, as he points out, is the source of it. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-8537583/JOHN-GRAY-not-exaggeration-compare-methods-new-woke-movement-Maos-Red-Guards.html
thank you for a well written article just wish more people would read this and open their eyes to what this evil movement is truly about, so many GOP haters are using it to justify their hatred, it’s more about hating Trump than wanting to help equality for blacks
When they say “Black Lives Matter” does that include the unborn, ripped from their mothers womb with a beating heart? Or only those old enough to vote?
Sending money to BLM is really a way to show your anti-Trump position. Most libs and Dems just do as they are told.
Kudos to the team here for printing this. If you step back you can see a lot of similarities between this stripe of Marxism and the Sandinistas. They organize amongst the youth and low income and create class warfare against the middle and upper income as enemies. They operate as typical insurgencies do: sneak attacks, ambushes, vandalism so it creates the impression that they have more power than they do and they always want to instill fear in their enemy. The differences between this “revolution” and others is they are grooming leaders to run (AOC) and consolidating power without shooting… Read more »
Land East of Michigan Ave.? Until the fire, it was Lake Michigan.
I saw that too. Priceless.
Wirepoints , you are right on– ignorant people support the movement without knowing what the heck the organization is about. Just a few minutes of research about the founding and founders of BLM reveals what the founders say and what they stand for. And their claimed lack of support for violence is nonsense. A great example, the city of Lake Forest allowed a rally in support of BLM a few weeks back..Fortunately, it ended up peacefully, but only after tens of thousands of dollars had been spent by almost every merchant in town boarding up their windows. The rally was… Read more »
This article is spot on. I always wondered how the Nazis took over a civilized society such as Germany – how did the Germans allow that to happen? Seeing BLM signs in my semi-rural neighborhood, I fear I see the answer to that question. Evil taking advantage of naivete to advance their agenda. The virtue-signalers may eventually see the danger, but by then it may be too late.
A big difference between 2020 Chicago and 1930’s Berlin is the ability to leave/escape persecution. The persecuted people of Berlin had to leave their country, which is a much bigger deal than leaving a U.S. city or state. Maybe the residents of Chicago don’t realize that people in Wisconsin and Indiana also speak English, and you don’t need a passport. As you can tell by my comments, I have no sympathy remaining for Chicago inhabitants. Anyone with sight and hearing knew Chicago would someday implode, yet so many stayed. The persecuted in Germany were truly victims. Chicagoans are just fools.
there were four or five warring factions that steadily consolidated power over time. Remember, the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich by the Nazi’s was in 1923. Hitler didn’t take control until a decade later.
BLM is not the core problem. The voters (and non voters) of Chicago have created this problem. Years of Dem/liberal rule have eroded traditional values. Add to that their wasteful, inefficient, corrupt fiscal management so that there is no money saved to respond in a crisis. The traditional response would be to increase the size of the police force, not defund it. All of Chicago’s problems can be laid at the feet of Chicago residents. There will be those that say, “Hey, I never vote Dem. I’m a victim.” When you say this all I hear is, “I was too… Read more »
Right. Do you think a Rudy Guiliani could get elected in today’s Chicago? No way. But a Fidel Castro could.
The yard signs and Fortune 100 companies donating to this mob is all about ‘virtue signaling’. These local CEO’s who donated corporate $$$ to BLM’s to virtue signal their solidarity, would also furlough or lay off employees at the drop of a hat due to Pritzker’s unwarranted and illegal lockdown. I have heard that many CEO’s who donated corporate monies to BLM did so as payback for being declared ‘essential’ business by Pritzker. That’s right, Pritzker was a ‘bag man’ for the BLM mob.
I’m thinking about printing this out and sticking it to the door of my neighbors with their stupid BLM signs trying to tell the neighborhood how great they are. If they had any contact with African Americans, which they don’t, they would know that defunding the police is the last thing they want. They do have honest complaints about the police but they want law and order. It sure seems like most of BLM’s support is from suburban moms (I hate to say that because I am one) and their spoiled, dumb kids. Black people are much smarter.
It’s especially baffling to see those signs on the lawns of Jewish homes, which is common here in Glencoe. BLM and its founders have said atrocious things about Israel. Some if it is here: https://thefederalist.com/2020/07/08/black-lives-matter-in-public-schools-is-turning-kids-into-little-marxists/
That seems baffling to me across the country. I get that there is a big left/right gap in the Jewish community, but why they are all mostly standing down on this is a mystery to me because, as I see things, they are usually so firm and so reliable when it comes to fundamental rights and wrongs. I think they know what they are doing, so I assume they will be heard when the time is right as they see it. They surely know that BLM is a hate group and they are among the targets.
That’s because the BLM rioters have not paid a visit to Glencoe.
the next sign that the BLM yard sign posters will put in their yards:
“Burn and Loot Me Last, Please”
Its easy to look past the individual on the street as just an ignorant, mindless virtue-signalling useful-idiot — we have no shortage these people in America (maybe we can start exporting them…) But I am absolutely astonished by the public support all these companies are giving. I am beginning to wonder if there is foreign influence within these companies meant to amplify the division. I would not be surprised if it came out that some Chinese or Russian owned American companies are being instructed to publicly support the organization. Then again, I also cannot underestimate the true lack of intellect… Read more »
I’d like to see the list of BLM supporters so I can boycott their products and businesses.
This is what I have so far:
whole foods
walmart
mc donalds
target
indeed.com
microsoft
amazon
marianos/kroger
disney
tmobile
intel
bing
godaddy
eddie bauer
johnson & johnson (Band Aid, Tylenol, Neutrogina, +more)
under armour
ben and jerrys
Are they direct financial supporters of BLM. I tried to find a list also and all I could find were a bunch of corporations that claim to support it but the actual donation would go to some other organization like a justice center.
I doubt they need to be instructed. They are global companies. They must align with the CCP in order to manufacture in China. They do not believe in America First. It is an alien concept to them.
They see themselves as the Global Elites, and they don’t care about the consequences of their globalism on Americans.
Dr. Carroll Quigley, author of “Tragedy and Hope”, wrote: “There does exist, and has existed for a generation, an international Anglophile network which operates, to some extent, in the way the radical right believes the Communists act. In fact, this network which we may identify as the Round Table groups, has no aversion to cooperating with the Communists, or any other groups, and frequently does so. I know of the operations of this network because I have studied it for twenty years and was permitted for two years, in the early 1960’s, to examine its papers and secret records. I… Read more »
Harald, nothing tinfoil about it.
The global planners convened in June at the World Economic Forum with a mission paper- straight up explaining how the global elites have plans for every citizen’s life spanning the next ten years.
I can’t attach it but you can find it at Zero Hedge written by Steven Guiness and it is titled “World Economic Forum: The Institution behind the Great Reset”.
I’d like to take this moment to express how much Block Club Chicago has become a disappointment. In their coverage of these protests, they come across more like progressive cheerleaders than balanced journalists. Very one-sided reporting. Maybe that’s their niche. Who knows. Chicago needs more journalists in pursuit of the facts, not woke credentials.
Yup. We link to them often on basic news stories because there is no paywall, but “resistance journalism” seems to be creeping in there.
JOURNALISM????? Hey, dats a good one, eh?
The Democrat party believes positive BLM engagement and exposure will result in increased votes to defeat Trump in the November 2020 election. Defeating Trump is more important than protecting government and personal property, protecting private citizens, and law and order. The riots have been occurring since late May and Mayor Lightfoot refuses Federal Government assistance time protect government property. Repeatedly, Mayor Lightfoot is not protecting the police. The police have repeatedly been under attack. She is derelict in her duty as a Mayor and thus unfit to be a Mayor. But apparently the majority of Chicago residents are satisfied with… Read more »
NAILED IT
Yep. Remember, most, if not all leftists are activists. It’s in their very nature to want to “do something” about the “injustices” of society.
If it means some “short-term pain” for long-term gain, like Trump out, then that’s the price they’re willing to pay.
And given that most of these people are Millennials aged 24 to 36, they don’t have much to lose. They want to make their mark, and this is it, as misguided as it is.
Good work, Wirepoints.
The thing is, these sociopaths and the scum funding them want violent confrontations with those who seek law and order. The clowns with their black garb and umbrellas are sacrificial lambs for the greater cause of repealing the second amendment, which is what the foreign governments and globalists like Soros who financially support these terrorists seek along with permanent one party rule.
The question is will enough Americans see the threat that looms and how close we are to steep societal decline.
I’ve always said, those that think they are the Do Gooders are going to Do Us All In.
I’m surprised they’re not get rid of the Pyramids. They were built by Slaves too. Let’s boycott companies supporting the Rioting Criminals.