Black Lives Matter held a rally Monday in support of looters who were arrested for vandalizing and burglarizing stores in Chicago over the weekend, calling the stolen goods “reparations.”
According to this, BLM organizers openly defended the thieves, claiming they were only burglarizing high-end stores because they needed clothing and food.
“I don’t care if someone decides to loot a Gucci or a Macy’s or a Nike store, because that makes sure that person eats,” said Ariel Atkins, a BLM organizer, according to NBC Chicago. “That makes sure that person has clothes.”
“That is reparations,” she said. “Anything they wanted to take, they can take it because these businesses have insurance.”
These latest riots were sparked by a police-involved shooting in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood on the Southside, where 20-year-old Latrell Allen was shot and taken to a local hospital after first opening fire on police who’d been called to the scene to respond to reports of a man with a gun. Allen has been charged with attempted murder for shooting at officers.
Over 100 people were arrested over the weekend during the riots, which resulted in an estimated $60 million in damage in Chicago’s North Side in an area with high-end stores often frequented by tourists, including a Tesla store, an Apple store, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Nike and a Best Buy, among many others. Numerous videos of the riots uploaded to social media show adult looters calmly walking out of smashed-in stores with their arms loaded up with stolen merchandise, while another clip shows someone using a car to smash through a store window.
Wait, thats what a protest is?? RT @MrAndyNgo: Looter uses vehicle to break into a business at the Chicago BLM riot overnight. #BlackLivesMatter #ChicagoRiots pic.twitter.com/P6KOKtmYMT
— Tina Ellmann (@TinaEllmann) August 11, 2020