Chicago rally, car caravan demand end to white supremacy on MLK Day

Beyond Chicago, politics, Social Justice

Chicago rally, car caravan demand end to white supremacy on MLK Day

January 26, 2021

By Leonna McAfee
Medill Reports

More than 100 protesters gathered in Federal Plaza for a Trump Out Now! Rally and Car Caravan on Martin Luther King Day Jan. 18 demanding changes from President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris just two days before their inauguration. The crowd condemned outgoing President Donald Trump and his white supremacist supporters for their insurrection attack on the Capitol on January 6.

Various progressive organizations, including Black Lives Matter Chicago and Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, came together for the rally asking for progressive changes in education, immigration policy, criminal justice reform, policing, health care and other issues.

Liz (right), 48, who preferred not to give her last name, attends the Trump Out Now! rally with her 6-year-old daughter in downtown Chicago. (Leonna McAfee/MEDILL)

Protester with a Black Lives Matter sign joined the rally calling with others for social justice reforms in education, immigration policy, criminal justice and health care. (Leonna McAfee/MEDILL)

Protester’s sign “This is good trouble” pays homage to late Georgia congressman and civil rights activist John Lewis who served alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the civil rights movement. (Leonna McAfee/MEDILL)

One woman observes the rally from her car to encourage social distancing. (Leonna McAfee/MEDILL)

More than 100 people gathered in Chicago’s Federal Plaza with various organizations to protest Donald Trump inciting his supporters to their insurrection attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. (Leonna McAfee/MEDILL)

A man holds a copy of The Internationalist, a left-wing newspaper published in Oxford, United Kingdom. (Leonna McAfee/MEDILL)

“Here we are in a civil war because of 45 [Donald Trump, the 45th President],” says Ameena Matthews, a Chicago community psychologist. “We knew [when] they elected him that they were going to try to push us back 400 years. We knew.” (Leonna McAfee/MEDILL)

White supremacy was a major rally topic as protesters cited the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6 when a white mob, instigated by President Donald Trump, stormed Congress and halted the certification of election results as members of Congress were forced to flee to safety. (Leonna McAfee/MEDILL)

Jazmine Salas, co-chair of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, tells the crowd that they were originally going to march to Trump Tower a few blocks away. She said they would remain in Federal Plaza because of a bomb threat called in by a suspected white supremacist. (Leonna McAfee/MEDILL)

The peaceful crowd of mostly young people, voice their disapproval of Donald Trump and his incitement of violence by his supporters inside the Capitol on Jan. 6. (Leonna McAfee/MEDILL)

A protester from the U.S. Palestinian Community Network waves a Palestinian flag on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day at Federal Plaza. (Leonna McAfee/MEDILL)

Leonna McAffee is a video and broadcast reporter at Medill. You can follow her on Twitter @leemcafe.