Protests continue nationwide with Christmas boycotts and demonstrations

By Ashahed M. Muhammad and Charlene Muhammad -Final Call Staffers- | Last updated: Dec 29, 2015 - 3:49:07 PM

Protesters marched down the famed “Magnificent Mile” an upscale shopping and business district that runs along Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago. Photo: Haroon Rajaee

CHICAGO—The protest movement launched on the traditional shopping day known as Black Friday continued as demonstrators targeted popular shopping districts and travel hubs to disrupt commerce and traffic on Christmas Eve.

“When you stop the money, you get their attention,” said community activist Mark Carter. “There’s only two things they understand, money and politics and we’re going to shut both of them down,” he vowed.

On Black Friday, stores were shut down by protesters who locked arms, blocked streets and stopped people from shopping along the famed Magnificent Mile, an upscale shopping and business district that runs along Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago. It is a popular tourist destination and the location of many world-renowned hotels and landmarks. Along the stretch of land are 460 stores, 275 restaurants and 51 hotels, attracting over 22 million visitors annually.

An activist holds a “Black Lives Matter” sign while chanting.

The “Black Christmas” protests in Chicago Dec. 24 were not as large, however, the protesters were able to have their voices heard, under the watchful eyes of the Chicago police department.

Protesters chanted: “No justice, no profit!” and “Indict, convict, send the killer cops to jail because this whole damn system is guilty as hell!”

“Black lives matter more than Black Friday. Black lives matter more than Christmas Eve,” said protester Alison Hernandez as she walked down Michigan Avenue.

The protests were held as a federal civil rights investigation into the patterns and practices of the Chicago police department is underway. The federal probe was announced and launched following the release of dashcam video showing Jason Van Dyke, a White police officer, shooting Black 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times. The officer was charged with six counts of first-degree murder.

Activists said Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the city council’s Black Caucus and all elected officials better take heed to the peaceful protests that are taking place, because the people have no more patience.

While protests remained peaceful, police maintained roving bicycle barricades and during a couple of shoving matches, protesters clashed with police.

At several busy Mag Mile intersections, the demonstrators held “die-ins,” counting to 16, the number of times Laquan McDonald was shot. Organizers say a massive voter registration effort is also underway and charged many politicians are complicit in a cover up that kept the video of the McDonald shooting suppressed for over a year.

Rev. Gregory Livingston and his group the Coalition for a New Chicago were primary organizers of the Dec. 24 mobilization. The protests will continue until discrimination and classism are eliminated, he said.

Protesters conducted “die-ins” at busy intersections , disrupting traffic and calling for the resignation of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

“The people here are committed. It’s about humanity, it’s about not valuing profit over people,” said Rev. Livingston. “The elite class can no longer be catered to by his administration,” he said.

Marchers represent many who still seek justice and want Mayor Emanuel to resign, he added.

“Nixon stepped down, and Rahm is the new Nixon of Chicago—he’s the cover-up king,” said Rev. Livingston. “These people are just the tip of the iceberg … this is just the beginning.”

Arrests during Los Angeles protests

Black Lives Matter activists in Los Angeles face criminal charges for shutting down the Santa Monica Freeway for approximately 20 minutes. Their civil disobedience on Christmas Eve was to highlight a demand for a complete overhaul of policing in America and to demand that police stop killing Black people.

The 405 Freeway provides access to the Los Angeles International Airport, as well as prominent West Side shopping centers such as the Howard Hughes center and the Westfield Shopping center, commonly referred to as the Fox Hills Mall.

Four women and three men used chalk to write messages, including the names of those killed by police, including Ezell Ford. Now four could face felonies, according to Nana Gyamfi, attorney for Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles.

Their Dec. 24 peaceful demonstration launched a series of holiday actions called “#BlackXmas,” to also highlight the more than 300 Black families Black Lives Matter activists say won’t have holidays as usual—they had a loved one killed by police in 2015.

The women have been charged with felony conspiracy to commit vandalism, felony vandalism, and obstruction of a peace officer. The men’s charges keep changing, said Atty. Gyamfi. The activists, and particularly the men, were treated horribly, Atty. Gyamfi told The Final Call. Their hands, legs and waists were shackled, and each was escorted by four deputies, one with a video camera, and the women were also held in a high power module, segregated, and only able to leave their cell for one hour a day, she said.

Police used roving bicycle barricades to stop protesters from entering the Apple Store along Michigan Avenue.

“These are people who haven’t even been arraigned. If they were picked up by the sheriffs or some kind of police department, they would have been in city jail, the substation jail,” she said. There was no felonious conduct, no property damage, no human was harmed, so the cartoon-like charges are made up, Atty. Gyamfi argued.

“The call Justice Or Else!, the saying no shopping during the Christmas holidays, that was made by the Minister (Louis Farrakhan) was heard. It reverberated throughout communities across this country,” said Pete White, a spokesperson for Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles.

There were also demonstrations in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Chattanooga, Tennessee, Chicago, Oakland, and San Francisco, he said. “This is just one of many things that we are going to continue to do to highlight the ways in which America can no longer remain sleep and tone deaf to the issues of the Black community,” he told The Final Call.

The bad thing about the levels of American consumerism is people rarely think about where their dollars go, said Mr. White. “For instance, when you walk into a Walmart and you think those items are cheap, people don’t realize that Walmart is one of the heavy investors in the private prison system. So our dollars are going straight out of our community, right into the hands of those who are building cages that continue to foster the state sanctioned violence in our community,” he said.

Someone sent a tweet complaining that the freeway shutdown was keeping him from reaching his son. Atty. Gyamfi apologized for the inconvenience. She added, “Tritobia Ford would like to get to her son—wish he could be late. Mike Brown’s parents wish they could be late. Oscar Grant’s folks wish they could be late to pick up their son. They ain’t never going to be able to say that,” she said. All of the families she named lost loved ones in some kind of encounter with law enforcement officers.

Disrupting air traffic in Minneapolis

Protesters blocked access to a terminal and caused significant holiday traffic delays at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport during a Black Lives Matter rally that also briefly shut down part of the nation’s largest mall.

Access to one of two terminals was closed Christmas Eve after more than 100 protesters gathered inside and blocked roads leading to the airport, prompting two security checkpoints to shut down for about 45 minutes, airport spokesman Patrick Hogan said. He said the protest caused some flight delays but no cancellations.

Hoping to draw attention to the police shooting of Jamar Clark, a Black man in Minneapolis, protesters took a light-rail train to the airport from the Mall of America, where demonstrators had earlier gathered on the typically huge shopping day.

Fifteen were arrested at the protests, mostly for trespassing or obstruction of justice, police said. No injuries or property damage were reported.

Gov. Mark Dayton said the moving protest created a “very, very dangerous situation.”

Federal and state investigations are ongoing in the shooting death of Mr. Clark, who was shot and killed by Minneapolis police responding to an assault complaint. The governor said releasing video of officers’ altercation with Mr. Clark, as demanded by protesters, could jeopardize the investigations.

About 500 protesters briefly gathered at the Mall of America before abruptly walking out while chanting, “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!”

Dozens of stores temporarily closed their gates, kiosks were covered and even Santa left his sleigh shortly before protesters gathered at the massive mall. Numerous signs were posted saying no protests were allowed—including a long message on a screen in a central rotunda between two Christmas trees.

A similar demonstration at the Mall of America last December drew hundreds of protesters angry over the absence of charges following the police killings of unarmed Eric Garner in New York City and Mike Brown Jr., Ferguson, Mo. Stores in the mall had to close, and dozens of people were arrested.

(Warren Muhammad and the Associated Press contributed to this story.)

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