As protesters demonstrated in at least 140 cities across the country in response to the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and other recent cases of police violence, the city of Chicago was also rocked by widespread protests.
Over the weekend, protesters demonstrated in Chicago’s downtown area, on the city’s south and west sides, and even in Boystown, Chicago’s predominately white LGBTQ neighborhood on the city’s north side.
Amid the unrest, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Chicago’s first Black woman mayor, had harsh words for President Donald Trump, who referred to protestors as “thugs” on Twitter and said “when the looting starts, the shooting start,” a reference to racist remarks made by segregationist Alabama governor George Wallace during civil rights protests in the 1960s.
Some Black Chicago alderman have been critical of the mayor’s decision, however, saying her move to seal off downtown pushed looting into the city’s already under-resourced communities on the south and west sides.
Over the weekend, Lightfoot toured damage to local businesses in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the city’s south side with Alderman Pat Dowell, another Black woman.
