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Feb 21, 17

#NotMyPresidentsDay Weekend: Report back from Chicago

President’s Day weekend brought thousands of people into the streets of Chicago to reject Donald Trump’s agenda. Three different demonstrations were held over the weekend; they ran the gamut from a larger, permitted rally to a roving black bloc dance party.

Actions kicked off on Sunday with a mass rally and march organized by ANSWER. Thousands gathered at Trump Tower and marched though Chicago’s South Loop. Chants of “white supremacy has got to go,” “refugees are welcome here,” “black lives matter,” and “No DAPL” rang out through downtown Chicago. Notably, the several thousand strong march also spent a good deal of time attacking Chicago’s democratic mayor Rahm Emanuel and lifting up the memory of Laquan McDonald, who was killed by Chicago Police in 2014. Chicago’s chant selections made clear they reject the racism of both Democrats and Republicans.

The ANSWER march ended with a rally at Federal Plaza. Several speakers highlighted Trump’s continual threats of sending federal law enforcement to Chicago—an offer that Rahm and other democratic politicians have made clear they are eager to accept. In many ways, Emanuel and Trump are two sides of the same fascist coin, always blaming the people affected by poverty and violence instead of changing the policies causing and creating poverty and violence. Trump seeks to do on a national level what Emanuel has done locally in Chicago: slash budgets and programs supporting marginalized communities while using law enforcement and increased criminalization to deal with the fallout.

Monday’s events kicked off with a banner drop. A giant banner reading “Fuck Trump, Fuck ICE, Fuck DHS, Fuck CPD, This Is War” hung over a major thoroughfare from the side of the 606, a former rail line that has been converted into a multi-use path and which has become a driving force and symbol of gentrification on Chicago’s Northwest side.

In the early afternoon on Monday, a permitted rally was held outside Trump Tower that brought together everyone from first-time protesters to seasoned radicals waiting for the night’s black bloc dance party. Over two thousand people held space outside Trump Tower for four full hours. An obscene police presence surrounded the rally, and squads of bike cops scattered nearby side streets.

As night fell and the permitted rally ended, a black bloc began to form at the corner of Wabash and Michigan. A hundred strong, the bloc danced through downtown with a DJ playing music through a PA mounted on a wheel chair. Upon arriving outside the Metropolitan Correctional Center (a federal jail), police began demanding the sound system.

Roughly ten minutes after arriving at the MCC, police rushed the crowd and began pushing the PA. An officer flipped the cart in an attempt to break the equipment and officers began tackling and hitting demonstrators. One young person was grabbed by the throat. Police eventually released everyone who had been detained but confiscated the sound system and ticketed a demonstrator for the alleged sound violation. While the conflict raged outside the MCC, prisoners inside flickered their cell lights and banged on windows in solidarity. The night ended with people clapping and chanting “you are not forgotten” in solidarity with those inside.

Resistance to Trump in Chicago remains diverse, and it is growing. In Trump, the left has found a single target that is creating widespread solidarity across issues. Multiple demonstrations are scheduled for the next few weeks, and many groups have already begun organizing for May Day.

Chicago finds itself in the crosshairs of a fascist president, an austerity-pushing Republican governor, and a neoliberal Democrat mayor protecting a brutal and racist police force. This city has become a key battle ground and stronghold in building a national movement against Trump. Now, the people of Chicago are making clear that addressing this crisis will require the rejection of both Republicans and Democrats.

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