Last Updated on February 17, 2022
A Chicago Ronald McDonald House, a charity providing support for underprivileged sick children and their families, was attacked during Chicago’s weekend violence and looting that took place after after a man suffered a non-life threatening gunshot wound after he fired his weapon at police.
Several images circulated social media depicting a night of disturbances on the Windy City’s Magnificent Mile. Over 100 arrests were made as high-end retailers were vandalized and looted in what was dubbed “reparation” by a local Black Lives Matter organizer, Ariel Atkins.
Thirteen police officers sustained injuries, with one officer suffering a broken nose after a bottle was thrown at his face.
Another victim of the looting to take place was a Ronald McDonald House, dedicated to providing free housing for families with sick children.
The Free Beacon reported that looters passing by damaged the charity building’s doors and smashed windows on their way
Although looters didn’t manage to enter the premises and nobody was physically hurt, the excess stress caused by the incident left several families shaken up on top of the current economic strain caused by the pandemic.
Chicago looters smash Ronald McDonald House with terrified sick kids inside https://t.co/NARsEzok2m pic.twitter.com/MhYE9OoFKZ
— New York Post (@nypost) August 13, 2020
Matt Walsh reported on the incident, tweeting: “The children staying at the center could hear the sirens and gun shots. Imagine how terrified they were.”
The children staying at the center could hear the sirens and gun shots. Imagine how terrified they were.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) August 12, 2020
A member of staff from the Chicago charity that houses around thirty families said: “They’re already in a really really difficult spot. Having this kind of additional stress and worrying about being able to get to and from the hospital, even though we’re five blocks away because of safety concerns, is just doubling the strain.”
Ariel Atkins, a local Black Lives Matter organizer, defended the weekend’s looting as “reparation.” National File reported:
“I don’t care if somebody decides to loot a Gucci’s or a Macy’s or a Nike because that makes sure that that person eats. That makes sure that that person has clothes,” Ariel Atkins, a local BLM organizer said at a rally outside the South Loop police station on Monday.
Atkins went onto defend her controversial call to loot as they were “reparation” and many stores are protected by insurance. “That’s a reparation,” Atkins added. “Anything they want to take, take it because these businesses have insurance.”
The BLM organizer then hit out at Rev. Jesse Jackson to criticize his condemnation of the violence to strike the Windy City over the weekend as “humiliating, embarrassing, and morally wrong.” According to The New York Post, she said: “Jesse Jackson was not there for the creation of Black Lives Matter. Jesse Jackson can keep his opinions to himself.”
Although wide scale violence has begun to quell, small pockets of demonstrations remain in some major cities.
