Covid Support Thread
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I haven’t left the house today. We’re about a mile west from downtown, and since they closed off access to the loop, I didn’t feel safe leaving. Actually, we’re in the zone where they cut off all transit, so we’re stuck unless someone comes get us. The destruction is really bad. Two of our friends who do live in the heart of downtown got out yesterday. Another posted video of stores being looted outside of his condo.
They started shutting down suburbs now and alerts are going off telling people to stay home.
Yes, stay safe.
Friend of mine lives in Philly but has moved 5-6 miles out from the center. She says she never thought she’d say this but wishes they had a gun.
It doesn’t have to be like this. Yes, we’ve always had this problem in the US, but the Trump admin is what’s making so many people feel THIS angry and desperate. There’s no justice. Any progress we made in 50 years is wiped out. It’s like we’ve gone back to the 1930s. I asked my dad how this compares to the 60s, and he’s like, it’s getting worse. They had Nixon, the war, and race riots, but we’ve got fucking Trump and a pandemic that disproportionately affects Black people.
I agree. We have a president who incites violence, African Americans are dying at the hands of people who are supposed to protect citizens, and the pandemic causing people to lose jobs and eventually their homes. I absolutely get why it’s happening. It almost seemed inevitable.
And remember, the protests started out peaceful. What is happening is on Trump’s hands, and the people who support him.
My neighborhood was hit last night at 10 pm. From our balcony, we watched people drive in and start smashing a looting. Trader Joe’s was decimated. While south loop was bad, downtown and river north was worse. The CbD has been locked down all day so things have been relatively calm, but it’s moving elsewhere now. Peaceful protest this evening was flanked by squad cars , I think there was another in Hyde Park as well.
I’ve been watching a lot of social media about this whole thing, I’m not usually a conspiracy type but I do think it’s really odd how many of the instigators are white and wearing potentially identifying gear like arm bands. Plus that guy that broke the windows who was wearing police issue riot gear and mask. As it is the protests seem to start peacefully until the police arrive and start gassing everyone so I’m genuinely a bit suspicious about the end game here. I’m sure a lot of it is just dickheads coming in from elsewhere to steal shit but I wouldn’t be surprised if there was an attempt to discredit the whole movement using undercover operatives.
So my place is a couple miles from the city center. I was out walking my dog around 5:45 and suddenly squad car after squad car after squad car started speeding downtown. I wasn’t in the thick of things but could hear all the sirens, could see the smoke, and when the sirens calmed down, helicopters and occasional sirens. There was some looting in my area, but nothing like neighborhoods 1-2 miles south of me experienced. One friend who lives in river north said her entire block, all storefronts have been smashed and stores looted. Even her building, the first floor windows all smashed. She said they went to Bucktown for groceries today and had to show proof of residence to get back to their neighborhood. I have another friend in the Loop who said she was out walking her puppy right around when the protests started turning violent, saw protestors dragging a policewoman and booked it back home. I tend to join protests when I can, but this one… well, I had a feeling it would take a turn. And it did. I understand the protests, the anger, the frustration — it’s warranted — but I feel terribly about the collateral damage, the small businesses that were already struggling and getting ready to reopen.
The sheriff from Flint so easily demonstrated how you could turn things around and keep them safe, it’s almost embarrassing. I wish there were more like him.
Ange, I wouldn’t believe what you see on social media. It’s so full of disinformation and frankly made-up shit. I think it’s possible that white supremacists are showing up to these rallies, but over the past few years we haven’t seen Trump supporters or nazis really show up in large numbers or be organized. Trump called for his base over the weekend to show up at the White House and they didn’t. Again, I don’t discount pockets of bullshit happening, but overall I think this is a lot of people who are incredibly angry for many reasons and want an outlet.
In Chicago at least, the cops are behaving appropriately (EDT, during these protests at any rate). Any story that speaks differently is BS. And this is coming from someone who has never been a fan of the police.
As Kate said, this has been building for a long time. People are angry. The larger the numbers, the easier it is to destruct. There’s likely extremist groups on both sides showing up and instigating. It sucks.
I think there’s some foreign interference too, stirring things up on social media as has been happening for years. There’s an article on Snopes about it.
But overall, this is not a conspiracy, I don’t think.
I am glad that the media is differentiating between the peaceful protesters and the rioters but I doubt that there is some kind of outside conspiracy. I think that there is some combination of regular angry people and anarchists and criminals taking advantage of the mass unrest to commit crimes. Beyond the main issue which has obviously been boiling over for a long time, the pandemic has left people sick and afraid and out of work and just completely frayed their sense of normalcy and routine.
@ Fyodor, yes that seems to be the consensus among most people.
Had to meet my babysitter in her Lyft at the CBD border in order to get her in this morning. Guess this is the new normal for awhile
