Black Lives Matter activists, social justice warriors and local union officials are working to turn the Black Friday shopping experience on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile into a nightmare.
For the second year in a row the Windy City’s progressive malcontents are ruining everyone’s shopping experience to raise awareness about their own issues, which include police shootings of black criminals, racism and economic inequality, Crain’s Chicago Business reports.
Last year, protesters managed to cut Black Friday sales on the Magnificent Mile to half of what they normally are to protest the city’s handling of police shooting of Laquan McDonald. This year, they’ll continue the tradition of blocking shoppers from entering stores on the busiest shopping day of the year and are hoping frustrations with the results of the 2016 election will recruit more folks to their cause.
“We’re expecting a bigger turnout this year, though this is not an exact science,” Frank Chapman, a field organizer with the Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, told Crain’s. “The reason we’re looking for a bigger turnout is that Trump is the president-elect and, boy, are people pissed.”
Chicago Police Department’s Special Events Department confirmed that it approved a permit for protesters on Black Friday, but would not disclose who received the approval.
The massive protest is being promoted by the Alliance and Black Lives Matter with participation expected from members of the Chicago Teachers Union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, as well as area churches and other unions.
Black Lives Matter activist Kimberly Veal told Crain’s the goal is to drive people away from the white owned businesses to minority owned businesses.
“One of the cornerstones about why we’re boycotting on Black Friday is to attempt to redirect people to businesses owned by people of color and women, and explain why it’s important to patronize these businesses,” Veal said.
“People are coming out to boycott Black Friday, people are boycotting Trump, people are boycotting Mayor Emanuel,” she said. “What’s happening in this country, especially with President-elect Trump, is that people are rebelling against the leadership class and the elite. It’s not going to stop anytime soon, and it will ultimately bring us all together.”
The Alliance is promoting the event through Facebook.
“In support of our demand that the City Council Enact [Civilian Police Accountability Council] we are calling upon all the freedom loving people of Chicago to join us in boycotting the Magnificent Mile in the Loop on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving,” a post to the Alliance’s page reads, according to the Chicago Patch.
Chapman said that unlike the Black Lives Matter protesters, the Alliance isn’t as focused on black and white.
“We’ve been calling everyone who has a grievance: the African-American community, Latino people, the white working class,” he said. “I’m not going to write the white working class off as racist.”
Regardless, at least one person who spoke with Crain’s said Chicago’s social justice warriors are getting pooped out from all of the protests lately, so they might not turn out in the numbers that organizers expect.
“The last five protests planned didn’t really pan out,” the unidentified resident said.
During an October protest, activists “managed to get their three or four arrests for the media,” he said, “but they never got more than 50 people.”
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