Looters and rioters who caused an estimated $60 million in damages to Chicago’s downtown were not activists protesting a shooting in the city’s Englewood neighborhood, the Chicago Tribune reports, despite Chicago Black Lives Matter protests last week that condoned and even encouraged the unrest and begged Chicago police to release more than 100 people arrested last Sunday night, calling them political prisoners.
Instead, the Chicago Tribune reports, the looters and rioters were mostly “college students, out-of-work parents, and convicted felons” who took advantage of an out-of-control situation to help themselves to thousands of dollars in designer merchandise.
Not a single one of those arrested Sunday night even mentioned the Englewood shooting that reportedly sparked the unrest in their arguments to the bond court – and none of them call the city’s Englewood neighborhood home.
“After hundreds of people looted stores on the Mag Mile and elsewhere downtown, 43 defendants appeared before judges this week charged with felonies, an odd mix of peer-pressured college students, out-of-work parents and convicted felons,” the Tribune noted.
“But none of them, it appeared, were from Englewood, even though Chicago police say the widespread looting had its beginnings with a police shooting there Sunday afternoon,” the outlet continued. “In fact, no one who made statements in court even mentioned the incident.”
Most of the defendants received low bonds, few in excess of $100, even though many targeted luxury boutiques like Gucci and Dior, and high-end stores like Apple.
Chicago’s branch of the Black Lives Matter organization, though, held a protest last Monday, with at least one speaker claiming that looting was a form of “reparations,” and that those who pilfered thousands in high-dollar merchandise were simply taking their share from “corporations” that had “looted” their futures.
Saturday night, in yet another protest, centered in downtown Chicago, activists held a banner that read, “Loot it back.”
Organizers call for banners to come to the front of the crowd as they prepare to march here in #MillenniumPark. #ChicagoProtests pic.twitter.com/vUvv1UmIVD
— Grace Del Vecchio (@delvecchiograce) August 15, 2020
The rationalization for looting comes as a surprise to those who actually live in the mostly black Englewood neighborhood. According to the Chicago Tribune, residents have flatly rejected claims that looting was justified by a police-involved shooting that took place in the neighborhood last Sunday when CPD responded to 911 calls about an armed man allegedly threatening neighbors.
“While the mayor and the city’s top cop have suggested the looting was sparked by the police shooting in Englewood hours earlier, there is nothing in the court record to support that,” the Tribune says. “Activists and residents of the South Side neighborhood have pushed back on those suggestions, and relatives of the man shot by police have said they did not know about the looting and do not condone it.”
As The Daily Wire reported, some Englewood residents even confronted “BLM” activists last week, telling them to leave the neighborhood.
“None of these motherf******s are gonna be here tomorrow. That’s why I got a problem,” one resident told media after telling “BLM” protesters to return to their homes. “They didn’t let the community know. They didn’t put flyers on peoples’ doors. If they would’ve gotten something incited with the police, who’s gotta deal with it tomorrow? The community. Not them. They’ll be somewhere sipping sangria somewhere. I’m telling you like it is.”