RebelPundit has newly released video footage from deep within the Black Friday protest in Chicago that provides new insight into the character of, and reception in the grassroots black community to college-based “Black Lives Matter” and other organized groups vying for control of their community.
Here is the explanation from Rebel Pundit:
When protesters took to Chicago’s Michigan Avenue last week, grassroots activists at the Black Friday boycott had no interest in sharing the Magnificent Mile with “Black Lives Matter” activists from the University of Chicago, forcing protesters associated with the group off the street.While media coverage from the periphery of the march showed images of protesters lined up in front of the high-end stores and reported on a unified movement for “justice” in the police killing of Laquan McDonald, it was anything but. Our footage from the core of the march reveals the contentious and disunited elements vying for control.At the outset of the march, grassroots protesters commonly associated with the group Voices of the Ex-Offenders (V.O.T.E.) led the march north on Michigan Avenue and away from Jesse Jackson and his media entourage. The majority of viewers observing the events on television were unaware of how the march began as cameras and reporters remained trained on Jackson.In doing so, media failed to capture the true tenor of the Black Friday march, including marked disunity among the groups represented that day, professional operatives attempting to stop our filming of the hostility toward Black Lives Matter activists by grassroots activists, and Black Youth Project 100 protesters inciting violence even as they chanted “peace,” as seen in our footage….The video shows militant female “Black Lives Matter” activists from Black Youth Project 100 fighting, pushing and shoving with the grassroots activists from the community, after being told not to try and get in front of the black community.
[Chicago Grassroots Protester: “The little kids from the University of Chicago are trying to take over the movement”]
RebelPundit reports several incidents that occurred within the march, which was held as a “Day of Action” to protest the shooting of Laquan McDonald. First, while Jesse Jackson held court with reporters on the far end of the protest, grassroots activists abandoned him and took the march from the gathering area, leaving Jackson behind.
Video footage from RebelPundit shows grassroots activists describing their fear that Black Lives Matter and the other groups present, including Black Youth Project and Black , as well as Jesse Jackson, have been manipulating their community, including concerns that absent Mayor Rahm Emanuel has placed operatives within their ranks.
The footage also shows RebelPundit being harassed during the march and told the groups “have a freedom to not be filmed.”
They may have feared he would document exactly what he found: in his video he records the tense interaction between black grassroots activists and the assortment of organized efforts present — Black Lives Matter, Black Youth Project, and Dream Defenders. Then a female activist appears to incite a fight by shoving the grassroots activists as the two groups overlapped deep inside the march. The activists from the two groups shout at each other and RebelPundit reports that the grassroots activists succeed in ejecting the Black Lives Matter protesters from the march.
This suggests that any coverage of Black Lives Matter at the Black Friday protest as 1) unified, 2) transparent, or 3) peaceful, failed to capture the events as they unfolded beyond the sidewalks and circumference of the Jesse Jackson entourage.
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