[Peace-discuss] Black Lives Matter Protests Roil Cities Across The US

[David Johnson]

Black Lives Matter Protests Roil Cities Across The US

Description: Chicago Black Christmas Demonstration, December 24, 2015 by E.
Jason Wambsgans for the Chicago Tribune

 <https://www.popularresistance.org/category/resist/> Resist!
<https://www.popularresistance.org/tag/black-lives-matter/> Black Lives
Matter,  <https://www.popularresistance.org/tag/police-brutality/> police
brutality,  <https://www.popularresistance.org/tag/racism/> Racism 
By Matt Pearce,
<http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-black-lives-matter-20151225-story.html>
www.latimes.com
December 25th, 2015

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Above photo:  Demonstrators hold a "die-in" on North Michigan Avenue in
Chicago. The "Black Christmas" demonstration on Thursday, organizers said,
was held to protest the killing of Laquan McDonald, a black teen shot 16
times by Chicago police last year. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

It's the most wonderful time of the year and a winter of discontent, a
season of police bullhorns and Christmas lights.

Demonstrators protesting police shootings of black men confronted
last-minute holiday shoppers and travelers in California and the Midwest
this week, seeing the crowds as an opportunity to draw attention to their
cause.

In Chicago on Thursday, more than 100 demonstrators marched down North
Michigan Avenue, the city's premier shopping corridor, and laid down on the
street for a "die-in." They also blocked access to some stores where
Christmas Eve shoppers were hoping to wrap up their tardy gift-buying.

The demonstrators were again protesting the October 2014 police shooting of
<http://www.latimes.com/topic/crime-law-justice/laquan-mcdonald-PEOCVC00408-
topic.html> Laquan McDonald, a black 17-year-old carrying a knife who was
killed when a
<http://www.latimes.com/topic/crime-law-justice/law-enforcement/chicago-poli
ce-department-ORGOV000080-topic.html> Chicago police officer shot him 16
times.

The officer,
<http://www.latimes.com/topic/crime-law-justice/law-enforcement/jason-van-dy
ke-PEGPF00155-topic.html> Jason Van Dyke, has been charged with first-degree
murder. Footage released last month appeared to show McDonald walking away
from Van Dyke, sparking protests that have yet to fully die down, much as
the
<http://www.latimes.com/topic/social-issues/black-lives-matter-ORCIG000122-t
opic.html> Black Lives Matter movement has remained in national headlines
since last year's protests in Ferguson, Mo.

"When one part of Chicago is affected, all of Chicago is affected," one of
the demonstrators, Alex Thiedmann, said of the "Black Christmas"
demonstration on North Michigan Avenue. "If I remain silent, I become an
oppressor."

Onlookers affected by the protest had a mixed response. Emily Grossman, 36,
was kept from getting an iPhone at the Apple Store. "I hate to put myself
first, but this is BS," she said.

Rabiah Muhammad came downtown for a doctor's appointment but stopped to
watch the protests.

"I was walking down the street and I saw all these beautiful people of all
ages and colors," she said. "I think it's a bigger problem than the city of
Chicago. It's an American problem. This kind of brutality? That's not what
our country is supposed to be."

A day earlier, shoppers and travelers also encountered demonstrators in Los
Angeles, San Francisco and Minneapolis.

On Wednesday afternoon, activists affiliated with the Black Lives Matter
movement shut down the southbound lanes of the 405 Freeway in Westchester
for about 10 to 15 minutes, writing chalk messages on the pavement. Up to
nine demonstrators were arrested.

"On one of the busiest travel days of the year, Black Lives Matter is
calling for a halt on Christmas as usual in memorial of all of the loved
ones we have lost and continue to lose this year to law enforcement violence
without justice or recourse," a statement from Black Lives Matter organizers
said.

One activist, Pete White, said the demonstration was motivated in part by
the Los Angeles County district attorney's recent decision not to charge a
California Highway Patrol officer who repeatedly punched a woman, Marlene
Pinnock, along the Harbor Freeway.

The same afternoon, eight protesters were arrested while blocking the San
Francisco International Airport off-ramp for about half an hour, the San
Francisco Chronicle reported.

They were protesting the death of Mario Woods, who was holding a knife when
he was shot by several police officers on Dec. 2. Demonstrators called the
shooting a grave overreaction.

"The concept behind the whole protest is that we're stopping business as
usual," Ronnishia Johnson, a Black Lives Matter activist, told the
Chronicle.

Wednesday's most dramatic protest was in Minneapolis, which has been roiled
by unrest since the Nov. 16 death of Jamar Clark, who was shot once in the
head by a police officer. Protesters say Clark, who was unarmed, was wearing
handcuffs when he was shot; the Police Department denies the allegation.

Hundreds of demonstrators swarmed the Mall of America, the local light rail
system and even Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport - resulting in
closed stores, delayed flights and surreal images of riot police clogging
escalators and entrances that said, "Welcome to Mall of America."

"You have to go after economics - they're more focused on profits rather
than helping us obtain justice for Jamar," 

Jason Sole, the criminal justice reform chair of the Minneapolis NAACP and a
dedicated protester, told the Los Angeles Times.

Protesters wanted the huge "platform" offered by the enormous Mall of
America, and "as a result we were able to impact them where it hurts, which
is through their dollars," Sole said.

At the Minneapolis airport, officials shut down two security checkpoints to
fliers for 45 minutes after protesters came inside one terminal, resulting
in a few delayed flights, airport spokesman Patrick Hogan said. The clogging
of another terminal's roadway also probably led to some missed flights for
passengers who couldn't get dropped off, he said.

Sole said one of the reasons for the airport demonstration was "to highlight
that many of our Muslim brothers and sisters" don't get the same treatment
as other travelers.

He wasn't sorry about the disruption the protests caused.

"Many reporters and different media folks just say, 'Man, you guys are
causing a major disruption,'" Sole said. "We're not anti-Christmas, we're
not anti-police, we're anti-police brutality.. Jamar, he won't be around a
Christmas tree this year."

 

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