What happened this weekend with the Dan Ryan protests

On Saturday morning, I wrote a post about a planned protest on the Dan Ryan. I reminded everyone about the Dan Ryan protest held further south near 79th street back in 2018 which was held without incident though controversial as this one was more controversial considering the times we're living in right now.

We have a pandemic going on and not only that the week before downtown Chicago and 87th street evidently had events of mass looting. Then we still have unrest around the nation especially since the death of George Floyd which largely hadn't settled down and every urban area has experienced some form of civil unrest.

Thankfully there was no protest on the Dan Ryan which would've started near 47th Street on Saturday. I wrote that post assuming many of you read the blog before you do anything else in the AM, although I don't always post in the morning though my goal is to post at 8:30 AM when possible.

According to this report from CBS 2, protesters didn't have the turnout they expected to hit the Dan Ryan on Saturday. Instead they marched through the Bronzeville neighborhood and found their way to Grant Park downtown where clashes between these so-called protestors and police happened. [VIDEO]

There were videos of people trying to get to their homes in Bronzeville, but not allowed to walk down their street due to the police presence. The language here in coarse so it's not safe for work of some Bronzeville residents going back and forth with a wall of state police blocking their street.

Dan Ryan demonstration on Saturday

This had already been announced before today, however, if you're traveling on the Dan Ryan going towards downtown today then you might want to adjust your route accordingly. Expect stop and go traffic and delays.

Via WGN

Demonstrators planning to protest on Dan Ryan Saturday https://t.co/2yjgyio3nO

— WGN TV News (@WGNNews) August 15, 2020

Demonstrators are planning to shut down the Dan Ryan Expressway on Saturday with a Black Lives Matter march.

Organizers have been meeting with law enforcement for weeks to coordinate the march.

The demonstration will start at 12 p.m. Saturday at Robert Taylor Park, near 47th and Federal, before heading north on the Dan Ryan.

...
It’s anticipated that the marchers will head north to 43rd Street. Officials have plans in place that the protest will eventually end at Grant Park.

Rabbi Michael Ben Yousef is one of the organizers. He said this has been in the works for weeks and they’ve been in contact with Illinois State Police.

“If they’re looting, we do not want the looters in our demonstration,” he said. “That is against our mandate, our mandate is non-violence.”

Here's hoping this remains a demonstration and there won't be any odd incidents between a "demonstrator" and a vehicle.

Like I said if you're headed towards downtown on the Dan Ryan on Saturday consider taking a different route to get to where you're going and be careful out there.

BTW, this is nothing new as there was such a demonstration conducted on the Dan Ryan over two years ago. Some of the leaders were different back then with a different governor and a different mayor. However, we're in different times with various forms of unrest around the nation. So I'm a tad worried, however, here's hoping it remains a peaceful demonstration and every goes home.

Englewood pushes back against BLM protestors from outside of the neighborhood

[VIDEO] I've been saying this on our twitter account since I found out about it. Englewood residents led by Darryl Smith of the Englewood Political Task Force stepped out to disrupt a planned Black Lives Matter protest outside of the Englewood police district HQ at 63rd and Loomis Streets. As you see in the dramatic footage from ABC 7, we saw it did get tense.

Check out this Tribune write-up:

A planned protest outside the Englewood police station Tuesday evening over a recent police-involved shooting devolved into shouting matches among demonstrators, with threats and insults hurled back and forth, after a group of older residents derided the event as “a party” and demanded that outsiders leave.

Eventually tempers cooled somewhat after several small confrontations, and people started talking. In the end, a much smaller group of demonstrators marched through Englewood while a large number of protesters headed home.

The event was billed as a car caravan to the South Side police station and a protest march in the neighborhood, organized by groups including Black Lives Matter Chicago, Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation and Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

It was in response to the recent shooting of Latrell Allen, who was wounded by police Sunday afternoon after he allegedly pulled a gun and fired at officers near Moran Park. The cadre of organizations support initiatives to defund police departments, remove officers from public schools and increase social services, among many other aims.

...

On Tuesday, about 10 minutes before the 6 p.m. event was to begin at 63rd Street and Loomis Boulevard, a small group of Englewood men, some of them residents of the neighborhood for decades, began to loudly deride the demonstration and demanded the group go home.

Things got heated.

“Get the (expletive) out of here!” one man yelled at the demonstrators.

The men are aligned with various Englewood groups that often work with police to ease tensions. They consider themselves community elders and said they didn’t appreciate a protest in their neighborhood during such a tense time. Some of them say they helped calm things after objects were thrown at officers on Aberdeen Street on Sunday.

“They (protest organizers) didn’t let the community know,” said Duane Kidd. “They didn’t put flyers on the door. They got the streets shut down. What about the elders that have to get up and down 63rd Street? Now they got to take the side routes.

“Coming into our community for just one day and then run out,” Kidd said. “Everyday. If they got something to say about the police, we got to deal with it tomorrow. The community. Not them. They’ll be somewhere sipping sangria.”

I got news for you, the loudest ones talking about defund police or abolish police are probably the ones who has the least issues with the police. They may not have experienced first hand police brutality. They may also be very well off and have attached themselves to this cause.

I can support BLM in principle especially on issues of police brutality. What I don't support is defunding or abolishing police. And I'm glad in Englewood, the men stood up and said you're not going to mess up things in our community. We're going to take care of our business, you outsiders will mess it all up!

Also with spokespeople like this young woman Ariel Atkins of BLM who believes looting is a form of reparations, it's a good thing the Englewood community doesn't want to be associated with this now. [VIDEO]

Meet the Dreadheaded Cowboy

With the unrest in downtown Chicago and in the neighborhoods I was all over social media looking for postings (usually fb, ig, and twitter) about the . Thankfully instances of looting, vandalism or violence has tamped down a bit, it does sound like it still goes on in the neighborhoods, however, peaceful demonstrations are still on going throughout the city in the past week.

I do want to talk about the Dreadheaded Cowby - real name Adam Hollingsworth - whom I seen on social media and the videos that were out there usually had a caption "This man stole a horse from the police". Some would point out that they've seen him in the neighborhoods and that police horses are usually uniform in color unlike any videos of this man on his horse which is brown and white. That's not quite a uniform in color horse.

The great thing about social media is that everyone has a platform the bad thing about social media is that everyone has a platform. If you want to know what's going on now, you really do have to vette a social media user's credibility and I do think that's hard.

The alleged theft was a joke by Hollingsworth in the heat of a moment. Unfortunately some people took that comment and ran with it and sadly tagged his car with spray paint urging him to return the horse. He spoke to Block Club Chi about that night and about the vandalism of his vehicle:

But people have snapped videos of Hollingsworth riding at protests in Chicago and posted them on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites, claiming he stole Bella from a mounted police officer. One Twitter post, which read “Breaking: Protester stole a horse from police,” was retweeted more than 8,000 times and watched more than 1 million times.

The video, shot by an unknown person, shows Dreadheadcowboy galloping on his spotted horse, Bella, Downtown during the protest.

People have threatened Hollingsworth and someone even egged and spray painted his car, writing, “Return the Horse Bitch.” Hollingsworth lives in suburban Crete but his car was parked at his sister’s house in Englewood, and she first noticed the damage Tuesday morning.

“I’ve been getting people inboxing me, telling me to return the horse and don’t come to Chicago,” Hollingsworth said Tuesday. “I want to let people know that I’m out here to bring the positive back to the community, and they’re making it even harder than what it is.”

People even edited a video Hollingsworth recorded to spread the fake news. He was recording a lengthy Facebook Live of his ride during one protest when other people at the event joked he stole the horse. He joked back, “I stole it from the police,” and he laughed.

But someone edited the more than 29-minute live video into a 32-second snippet, proclaiming again Hollingsworth stole the police horse, and shared the truncated video on a different social networking site.

It was reshared by people, including a comedian, on Facebook. People accused Hollingsworth of theft, demanding he return the horse as others tried to correct the misinformation, sharing news articles about him.

Via Block Club Chi

Random Acts of Kindness Day #rakday

[VIDEO] Something posted this morning from Jahmal Cole at a local Jewel-Osco parking lot. Here's the description he wrote:

What's something simple you can do to improve your community? After I shop, I always take my cart back to the coral. This small habit helps me build muscle to take on bigger challenges. But when something is easy to do, it's just as easy not to do it.

It's just as easy not to greet your neighbor.

It's just as easy not to pick up trash.

It's just as easy not to shovel your neighbor’s snow.

Thank you Jewel-Osco for partnering to spread this message on Random Acts of Kindness Day.

Visit formyblock.org for more.

BTW, we should be doing random acts of kindness everyday. Great message by Mr. Cole.

My Block My Hood My City getting ready for a snowstorm

As you know we're expected to get hit by a major snowstorm this weekend. Just know that Jahmal Cole is getting ready with some volunteers to help dig out seniors. It's something we've covered over time on this blog which is Cole's volunteering efforts and it's very laudable. Even if you have no desire to shovel he would appreciate some donations for his efforts.

Here's one of his latest ig post with regards to his efforts

View this post on Instagram

WINTER WEATHER WARNING: #Snow is coming this weekend. 6-10 inches. Volunteers, the time and place is Saturday, 11am, 79th Street Red Line Station. Meet us there to lend a #shovel to the community. We’ll disperse to various addresses in the city that have requested our services. Text “Shovel” to 55222 for more info. To those of you who are snowed in, you can still give to the effort by donating at formyblock.org Thank you all. Your support means an easier, stress-free #winter season for a lot of our senior citizens.

A post shared by My Block, My Hood, My City (@myblockmyhoodmycity) on Jan 18, 2019 at 4:06am PST

Target 87th Black Friday protest #Cutthecard #NotAnotherCent

The West Chesterfield Community Association used their FB page to report on yesterday's Black Friday protest outside of Target's Chatham store. Most of the reports that involved Congressman Bobby Rush who made some noise after Target's announcement that they were closing two of their south side stores in Chatham & Morgan Park you may have also seen West Chesterfield's Michael LaFargue in the background in photographs. Anyway the protest against the closings are still making the news.

I want to share the Sun-Times article attached to the West Chesterfield post, however, I want to share Worlee Glover's thoughs from Concerned Citizens of Chatham on the future of the Target site once the store vacates the location they operated since 2002.

Chesterfield Community Council on Target closure #6WardChicago #Ward09

Since the announcement of closures for the Target stores in Chatham & Morgan Park, the Chesterfield Community Council share a couple of posts from their FB page illustrating some history and their thoughts on the closure.

We'll start with some letters from over 20 years ago. Noted here is the work of the Chesterfield community and others to bring that Target store to it's current - and soon to be closing - location at 87th/Cottage Grove.

The next post is regarding the closure and perhaps another call to boycott Target's decision to close the store on 87th Street. The "hashtag" is #CutTheCard, perhaps referring to Target's Red Card (and for the purposes of this post I won't be linking).

Phillip Jackson RIP

Phillip Jackson was truly a very important man in the community with his activism as founder of the Black Star Project and he was CEO of the Chicago Housing Authority. Learned of his passing through RAGE's IG and would like to offer condolences to his family. Jackson at one point tried his hand at politics running for state representative for Illinois' 26th District.

Here's a news story regarding Mr. Jackson published Monday in the Chicago Tribune.

View this post on Instagram

We would like to send our sincerest condolences to family of Phillip Jackson, Founder of Black Star Project. We have just received news of his passing today. Rest Peacefully Phil🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

A post shared by R.A.G.E. (@rage_englewood) on Nov 4, 2018 at 4:59pm PST

Upset with the closure of Target?

The store in Chatham & Morgan Park which was announced earlier this week? Concerned Citizens of Chatham let's us know who to direct our questions and concerns to. Probably worth it to reach out and let them know how valuable the store has been to our community.

Washington Heights Visioning Session - Red Line Extension Coalition

Red Line extension

This invited with an attached newsletter was sent to us via the West Chesterfield Community Association with regards to the red line extension.

• THE FOURTH AND FINAL WASHINGTON HEIGHTS VISIONING SESSION BY ENDELEO INSTITUTE.
  
  6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
  Thursday October 18th, 2018
  Woodson Library Auditorium
  9525 S Halsted, Chicago

Kennedy Expressway Labor Day anti-violence march disrupted

I didn't follow much coverage of this. I know that Rev. Gregory Livingston had a falling out with Tio Hardimon - who ran for Governor this year and is known for running the Ceasefire organization. Livingston and Hardimon organized a north side anti-violence march that shut down traffic on north Lake Shore Drive and ended in Wrigleyville.

This time around on the Labor Day holiday Rev. Livingston wants to shut down traffic on the Kennedy Expressway to disrupt traffic to O'Hare! And I almost forgot about this until I saw this blurb yesterday on Newsalert.

Then the protesters were prevented from marching on the Kennedy and many were arrested, could it have been doomed from the start?

First from ABC 7 Chicago a video of police blocking demonstrators from marching onto the Kennedy Expressway [VIDEO]

What catches my eye for this vid is the screencap with a sign for "Northside against white supremacy". Hmmmm, for some reason I felt this was out of place for a march against violence in innercity neighborhoods. What I've noticed with protest movements is that there are different types of causes within such a movement. It's about one thing, but then those who are involved brings their own agenda with them.

Anyway, the AP got in on the action with this video noting the arrests [VIDEO]

 More signs about racism and racial equality in that vid. Also a chant about "Rahm Emanuel has got to go?" Hmmm, can't argue with that just who are Chicagoans going to vote for next year. And the video got quite tense towards the end.

With that out of the way, the question stand. Do you support the protests against the violence in Chicago? Do you support these protest designed to shut down the major expressways in the Chicago-area?

Tribune: Rapper hosting 'anti-bait truck' event in Englewood to give away shoes

More ramifications from that controversial bait truck operation which the Norfolk Southern Railroad has expressed regret for.

A Chicago rapper's foundation will be giving away thousands of shoes in a low-income South Side neighborhood where a recent sting using "bait trucks" to lure potential shoe thieves faced criticism from civil rights activists and local officials.

Rapper Vic Mensa's SaveMoneySaveLife foundation will give away shoes Sunday in the Englewood neighborhood. The event comes after residents filmed police arresting a man and accused officers of trying to entrap poor residents.

Norfolk Southern Railroad organized the sting with assistance from the Chicago Police Department. The effort was aimed at combatting thefts from nearby rail yards. The railroad company has since apologized, and prosecutors dropped charges against three people arrested during the sting.

Sunday's event will include multiple "anti-bait trucks" with gym shoes from brands, including Puma, Adidas, Nike and Converse, for everyone from toddlers to adults, said foundation co-founder Laundi Keepseagle.

"It's been so beautiful," she said. "I'm so excited for these kids to get shoes for the new (school) year."

Keepseagle said large donations were made from as far as Germany, China and Australia by multiple athletes and musicians who asked to remain anonymous.

Hal Baskin RIP

Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune

EDIT 11:08 AM - per suggestion of the reader I just changed from the YouTube video from 2011 to a Tribune file pic of the late Hal Baskin! So now the first thing you won't have to see is 6th Ward Ald. Roderick Sawyer once you click the post link! My apologies for the confusion.

I'm mostly familiar with the longtime Englewood community activist for his run for 16th Ward Alderman in 2011 a campaign we documented through mostly clips from the former WYCC program Off 63rd with Garrard McClendon. He was one of the challengers for Alderman from different wards that included now Alderman Roderick Sawyer who himself was challengening then 6th Ward Alderman Freddrenna Lyle, and of course Rhymefest who was hoping to unseat Ald. Cochran in the 20th ward.

On the other hand Mary Mitchell had written far more about him and his background as of late and it makes reference to his youthful past as a gang member. I definitely will applaud that he was able to turn his life around. Unfortunately there are those who refuse to let that past go.

Hal Baskin could not outlive his past.

Although he had put away his gang affiliation long ago — choosing to be part of the solution instead of the problem — his past as a teenage gangster hung on.

He died suddenly on last Friday at 66 years old.

Baskin had left the gang life at 19 and eventually founded P.E.A.C.E. — People Educated Against Crime in Englewood — an organization formed to keep young people out of trouble.

He made several unsuccessful runs for alderman, was an unofficial peacekeeper at Englewood High School, a grass-roots community organizer, and a real estate developer.

Still, the headline on his obit read “Former Gang Member Became Voice for Peace in Englewood.”

Baskin's death was noted on RAGE's ig page and Englewood has lost a champion. Condolences to Mr. Baskin's family.

Tribune: A rift, then split between Lake Shore Drive protest organizers over planned shutdown of Kennedy Expressway

So evidently there is a disagreement as far as another highway shutdown to protest gun violence in Chicago's troubled neighborhoods!

Less than a week after a coalition of South and West side community leaders orchestrated a protest that shut down part of North Lake Shore Drive, march organizers Tio Hardiman and the Rev. Gregory Livingston have decided to go separate ways, a split both say resulted from differences in ideology.

The rift comes after Livingston, a West Side pastor and activist, announced a plan to shut down parts of the Kennedy Expressway bound for O’Hare International Airport on Labor Day. In a Tuesday statement, Hardiman said plans for the upcoming protest — an escalation of the tactic organizers used for the Aug. 2 Lake Shore Drive protest — were made without his approval. As a result, he and Livingston will no longer work together.

“We fell out over this; he used me,” Hardiman, head of the Violence Interrupters, said in his release. “He is trying to use this as a stepping stone for this own career.”

Hardiman, who has run for governor twice, said Livingston’s plan to shut down the Kennedy is “ludicrous” and would result in protester arrests. He refuses, he said, to allow marchers to participate in tactics that could prompt “aggressive force by law enforcement authorities.”

“He hijacked my movement,” Hardiman said of the Lake Shore Drive protest. “Everybody out there knew that was my idea — except for him.”

In a phone interview Tuesday, Livingston said he invited Hardiman to participate in the Aug. 2 demonstration and that Hardiman came up with the idea of the Lake Shore Drive protest. Livingston said he introduced the idea of marching to Wrigley Field. Though they successfully cooperated in the past, the two had differences in their thinking, he said.

“He had his ideas, we had our ideas,” Livingston said. “At some point, we realized we had different ideas.”

Marathon Pundit: Pics from recent Chicago anti-violence march

Via John Ruberry

I'm sorry that I haven't devoted much coverage to this anti-violence march that took place on the north side on Thursday. I feel as if there was more coverage on this blog of the march that took place on the Dan Ryan Expressway last month with Father Michael Pfleger.

The pic above interests me was shot my the Marathon Pundit John Ruberry who was on scene in the Lakeview, Wrigleyville, Boystown neighborhoods of Chicago. The march started off on north Lake Shore Drive and eventually arrived in those areas.

Ruberry shares the caption:

911 is a joke? Really? Is this man a September 11 "truther?" Again, what does 9-11 have to do with Chicagoans slaughtering each other?

Or is this loon claiming that Chicago's emergency telephone number is a joke?

If this guy's home is broken into, will he call 911? Or will he dial the cell number of Tio Hardiman, one of the organizers of the protest?

I could turn this into an argument in favor of the 2nd amendment. It could be said a citizen has to handle their business until authorities arrive onto the scene. I feel this is a great counterpoint to a recent post here about the 2nd amendment.

In this same post I want to share artistmac's video of this march on the north side. Can't say much about it yet as I haven't watched it in full. I'm not surprised he went up there to record some of the festivities. Yes I know festivities isn't the best word for this. [VIDEO]

All the same what does Ruberry presents: "Pictures from the Chicago anti-violence march that you won't see in the mainstream media". What do you all think about that?

Do you feel that these anti-violence marches on the city's major roads will make an impact that will cause the city to take the issue of gun violence seriously.

Cost of Father Pfleger's expressway shutdown to protest gun violence in July

While the Dan Ryan march happened in July and another march is being planned to disrupt traffic on Lake Shore Drive, we're looking at the costs of the earlier march led by Father Pfleger.

As Chicago prepares to handle another protest that could shut down a major roadway, the total cost of the last big demonstration has hit at least $323,000.

That’s the bill that taxpayers are footing for the Dan Ryan Expressway march earlier this month.

The cost so far — $323,229.33 — includes nearly $1,000 in fuel costs for state Department of Corrections vehicles, nearly $200,000 in state police pay and benefits and $52,000 in state Department of Transportation equipment costs, according to department records.

The Cook County Sheriff’s Office said they helped state police with 911 calls during the Dan Ryan march, at a cost of about $3,000.

As of Monday afternoon, the Chicago Police Department had not provided an estimate of their protest-related costs. Neither had the Chicago Transit Authority, though it was unclear how the march could have had a financial impact on that agency. Even State Police said they’re still calculating their final costs.

CBS Chicago: Governor critical of Dan Ryan shutdown

[VIDEO] If there are two unpopular politicians in Illinois it's Mayor Emanuel and Gov. Rauner who are still going at it with each other over the recent Dan Ryan shut down on Saturday. St. Sabina Catholic Church pastor Father Michael Pfleger is willing to take his activism up a notch if there is no further action in the violent crime in Chicago.

I could just say violent crime in Black communities, but this should be treated as a city problem regardless!

Anyway allow me to share a couple of pertinent tweets from this past Saturday. Here's the retort from the Mayor to the Governor.

It was a peaceful protest. Delete your account. https://t.co/QoKyIHmuQj

— Mayor Rahm Emanuel (@ChicagosMayor) July 7, 2018

I'm going to give the Governor credit for this!

Great piece of community police work today by ISP and CPD. Despite the disruption and traffic chaos, they made sure marchers and drivers were safe. Thanks to officers from both forces.

— Governor Rauner (@GovRauner) July 7, 2018 

Sometimes I forget that these can be deleted perhaps I should just screencap them for posterity. Although the tweets have been reported in the media so they won't like go away soon. Forgotten probably but we know they were shared by the parties involved.

VIDEO: Dan Ryan Expressway Father Pfleger Peace March Shutdown #DanRyanshutdown

[VIDEO] It's rare as of late that I do Sunday posts here however since Saturday's peace march on the Dan Ryan Expressway is still fresh on everyone's mind I wanted to share this video from Artistmac. He didn't participate in the march himself but got footage of the march as it happened. And audio of others who are pontificating on this.

We would see that at first police blocked two lanes and ultimately protestors which included not only St. Sabina's Father Michael Pfleger also Rev. Jesse Jackson. There were pics that showed them negotiating with authorities especially Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson. Though I found a pic where he was marching with the protestors on the Dan Ryan via the "Sheriff Blog".

BTW, I feel the need to share this post from Newsalert the last posted yesterday about the Ryan march: Amid #DanRyanShutDown, Rauner slams Rahm, protesters on Twitter: "Unacceptable. We had clear parameters that allowed the protestors to be heard while respecting law and order. Instead, they chose instead to cause chaos..."

What are you thoughts on this march?

UPDATED: Today is the day of the Pfleger march on the Dan Ryan

And Father Pfleger's march has the support of one Rahm Emanuel from ABC 7 Chicago

h/t Newsalert

UPDATED 12:08 PM - Newsalert has two other posts about this march. One from Audrina Bigos of WBBM-TV and the other from NBC News

• NOW: Father Pfleger and youth leading protest onto Dan Ryan - from WBBM's Audrina Bigos' twitter video of the march
• Hundreds of protesters in Chicago shut down part of a major interstate during march against gun violence. - More video from NBC News' twitter

RELATED

• Capitol Fax: ISP warns Pfleger over expressway protest
• Tribune: Police call on Pfleger to not shut down Dan Ryan with July peace march
• Sun-Times: Pfleger plans to shut down Dan Ryan on July 7 by marching on roadway