The New Black Friday - CHIGATE????

By Hermene D. Hartman Black Friday took on a different meaning this year. It was “Black”all right. Chicago is a tale of two cities, one south and we Like Tweet Web Version Preferences Forward By Hermene D. Hartman Black Friday took on a different meaning this year. It was“Black” all right. Chicago is a tale of two cities, one south and west sides and one downtown and north; one Black and one white; the haves and the have nots; the business district and the community; the politically connected and the disconnected; the rich and the poor.The factions met on Black Friday, November 27th face to face. This was a protest on racism, no matter how you look at it. Black Chicago, a political elephant, is angry and all parties came together the chilly wintry day after Thanksgiving to protest the savage murder of a Black teen, 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, by a White Chicago cop, Jason Van Dyke. Racism. Protesters halted traditional Christmas shopping on North Michigan Avenue, the hub of luxury shopping in Chicago. CHIGATE??? Michigan Avenue Protester Laquan was shot down in the street, as revealed by police dashcams. It’s a little strange that none of the police cameras had audio working – the official reason given is that the batteries in the audio devices of all the cars were put in backward. This is an example of the code of silence from the men in blue. In addition, some 86 minutes of closed circuit video footage – presumably of the murder –from a nearby Burger King disappeared, after police visited to inspect the restaurant’s cameras. Coverup. The video with no audio shows Laquan being shot like a wild animal in October 2014 – 16 bullets were pumped into him over 13 seconds as the young Black boy lay helpless and non-threatening on the ground. The shooter, policeman Jason Van Dyke, was removed from street patrol and given a paid desk job. Finally, after 13 months, a Cook County judge ordered the murder video to be made public. The day before its release, Van Dyke was indicted on first-degree murder charges. He is the first Chicago policeman in 35 years to be charged with murder for an on-duty shooting and is now in jail facing a possible life sentence. The Chicago City Council approved of $5.2 million to be paid to the family of McDonald way before a lawsuit was even filed. That alone is suspect. How could the City Council vote a payout to a family when they had not seen the tape of the crime? It is an admission of guilt and wrongdoing. It is a coverup. The money amounts to hush dollars. CHIGATE. Flashback: Hanrahan/Fred Hampton Revisited Ed Hanrahan FLASHBACK: Hanrahan And Fred Hampton Revisited Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez waited 400 days to make the charge against Van Dyke. She says she was waiting for the FBI to finish its investigation. Anyone looking at the video could have made the first-degree murder charge against Van Dyke within 48 hours. Alvarez didn’t; she called the investigation “complex.” Clearly and without doubt there was a cover-up. The protesters are asking for Alvarez to resign for what amounts to either incompetence or ineptness. Whether she resigns or not, she will probably be trounced out of office by the voters in her bid for re-election on March 15, 2016. This is politically reminiscent of the career of promising Cook County State’s Attorney Edward V. Hanrahan when his officers killed two leaders of the Illinois Black Panther Party – Fred Hampton and Mark Clark –in a hail of gunfire during a pre-dawn raid on their apartment on December 4, 1969. Before that night, Hanrahan had been touted as a future mayor of Chicago or governor of Illinois, but afterward, a firestorm of controversy and years of court hearings followed, and Hanrahan was defeated in 1972 by a Republican in his bid for re-election as the county's top prosecutor. He faded into obscurity afterwards. Now Alvarez finds herself in the same position. Black Friday Protest. . . Thousands marched. The media reported that on Black Friday, there were hundreds of marchers blocking the shopping streets of downtown Chicago. Not true. There were thousands. There were hundreds of media from all over the country, so much so, that the marching line had to halt to push back the media line. The protesters were comprised of all sectors of the Black community, and some Whites and Latinos. The march was a united front - Black Lives Matter, traditional civil rights activists, clergy, doctors, lawyers, West Siders, South Siders, politicians, teachers, candidates, union workers, Black media, all were present in Saturday clothing. The Black community is under attack and all sectors have become sick and tired of political newbies and racism. People brought their children and grandchildren to the march. Children led the frontline. The chant was,“1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16 Shots!” The chant was, “Alvarez Must Go!” The chant was, “Fire Superintendent McCarthy!” The chant was,“Impeach the Mayor!” The chant was, “Cover-up!” The chant was,“Don’t Shoot; Don’t Shop!” The chants were made at the intersection of each street. Shoppers were disturbed. Traffic stopped. The march started at Pioneer Court near The Tribune Towers and NBC. The march took the full boulevard of North Michigan Avenue rather the lane that police had nicely designated. Police were accommodating as their bicycles lined up on the side of the street. They were polite and on notice. The march went north to Water Tower. The ministers prayed, while some of the protestors challenged that this was not the time for prayer. Pray on Sunday they said. The community came together. . . Congressmen Bobby Rush/Danny Davis and Rev. Jesse Jackson marched. The marchers went back down Michigan Avenue and the tourists looked. Some tried to figure out what was going on as they came to the big city to start their holiday shopping, only to be met by this robust crowd. The protesters then began to break off and stand in front of the store entrances, blocking the doors. The cash registers paused, with protesters in front of Tiffany’s, Disney, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Ralph Lauren, The Gap, Nike, Burberry and others. The marchers remained until closing time. The Apple Store shut down completely. The protesters were effective. They stopped the shopping. Some of the shoppers were confused. When the protesters explained, sometimes the shoppers joined the protest. The marchers went back down Michigan Avenue and the tourists looked. Some tried to figure out what was going on as they came to the big city to start their holiday shopping, only to be met by this robust crowd. The protesters then began to break off and stand in front of the store entrances, blocking the doors. The cash registers paused, with protesters in front of Tiffany’s, Disney, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Ralph Lauren, The Gap, Nike, Burberry and others. Some marchers remained until closing time. The Apple Store shut down completely. The protesters were effective. They stopped the shopping. Some of the shoppers were confused. When the protestors explained, sometimes the shoppers joined the protest. Flashback - Montgomery Bus Boycott. . . Montgomery, 1956 Chicago, 2015 Flashback to when African Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest segregated seating. That boycott took place from December 5, 1955, to December 20, 1956, and is regarded as the first large-scale demonstration against segregation in the United States. On December 1, 1955, four days before the boycott began, Rosa Parks, an African-American woman, refused to yield her seat to a White man on a Montgomery bus. She was arrested and fined. The boycott of public buses by Blacks in Montgomery began on the day of Parks’ court hearing and lasted 381 days. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ordered Montgomery to integrate its bus system. One of the local leaders of the boycott, a young pastor named Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., emerged as a prominent national leader of the entire American civil rights movement in the wake of the action. Rosa Park sparked a new movement. The economic boycott buried Jim Crow. The Magnificent Mile Black Friday Protest March hit Chicago in the pocketbook. It will get the attention of the Fathers of the City. Change is in the air. The body politic is challenged. Black people are under attack. Racism is challenged. Change is in the air. And the protests will continue. The Magnificent Mile Friday Protest March Chicago in the pocketbook -- and the protests will continue.