Dec 17

Dec 17 He's Back

Donald J. Trump, Demonstrations, Performance, Protest, Public Declarations

When the members of the Texas National Guard returned home last month, many thought Donald J. Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign in Chicago had slowed, particularly because the U.S. Border Patrol instituted highly publicized deportation campaigns in Charlotte, North Carolina and New Orleans, Louisiana. This past Tuesday, U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino returned to Chicago, signaling another escalation in U.S. Border Patrol’s operations in the Chicago area.

On Tuesday. at least 15 people were detained, including a tamale vendor. On Wednesday, Bovino headed to Evanston, where he was confronted by Evanston Mayor Daniel Bliss. Chicago ABC News 7 reported that several individuals were detained, as well as at least one other person in Cicero.

Given the renewed activity, the residents of Little Village called for an emergency mobilization at 6:00 PM tonight. As I was headed to the event being staged near the archway (Arco de La Villita) spanning 26th Street, I received a text announcing a Vigil de Comunidad Community Vigil at 49th Avenue and Cermak. The text reported that 12 people had been “abducted today by ICE/BP.” Talk about lack of coordination. The vigil was also scheduled for 6:00 PM. Why the organizers didn’t merge the two events is beyond me, particularly because any evening event on a Wednesday during December will inevitably be a low-turnout event.

The TV crews showed up sometime around 5:00 PM for the demonstration near the Arco de La Villita, but were gone by the time I arrived at 5:45 PM. As I had assumed, there were no more than 75 demonstrators lining 26th Street. Interestingly, two distinct groups were present. On the northside of the street, members of the Far Left gathered, many wearing keffiyehs. Those lining the southside of the street were Little Village residents, most of Hispanic heritage.

I failed to draw the distinction between the two groups until a woman who presumably was a Little Village resident pulled me aside when she saw my camera, telling me that I was standing amongst the residents. She then pointed out that those on the other side of the street were a distinct group. Her implicit message, “We are the real deal; they are not. We live the terror day to day; they don’t,” at least that is how I read her body language and brief comments to me.

The residents certainly were more hospitable than any other demonstrators I have encountered. To ward off the winter chill, they offered everyone free hot chocolate.

CPD was out in force. I didn’t count, but in all likelihood, there were more CPD officers present than demonstrators. At various points, I saw discussions between the CPD officers with the residents. I wondered whether there would be arrests tonight, although the demonstrators on both sides of the street were peaceful. In addition to keeping the demonstrators safe, CPD’s primary objective appeared to be keeping 26th Street open to traffic, which is not surprising because 26th Street is the second busiest retail corridor in the city.

About 45 minutes into the demonstration, the demonstrators on the northside of the street suddenly rushed into the street despite the line of police officers standing between them and traffic. “Whose streets? Our Streets,” as the chant goes. At that point, the speeches began, with the speakers standing in the flatbed of a truck parked in the middle of 26th Street, just west of the Arco de La Villita. Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez was the most noteworthy speaker. While fiery, Sigcho-Lopez and the other speakers’ rhetoric toed the Far-Left line, which meant I didn’t pay much attention to the content. Yet, I heard references to enough Far Left talking points that I understood why the folks on the southside of the street differentiated themselves from those on the northside of the street. Notably, the residents did not join the demonstrators listening to the speakers. Instead, they maintained their vigil at the entrance to the Discount Shopping Mall, just to the east of the Arco de La Villita.

As usual, the speeches went on far too long. Shortly after 7:00 PM, the truck holding the sound system rolled slowly west on 26th Street, and then turned south onto South Kedzie Avenue. I grabbed the obligatory images of the marchers as they passed the MacDonald’s, before packing up my gear and catching the 60 Bus back to State and Washington.

[Click on an Image to Enlarge It. The Images Are Not Necessarily in Exact Chronological Order]