#Black Lives Matter organizer calls Chicago looting ‘reparation’

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Ariel Atkins, a lead organizer for Black Lives Matter Chicago, speaks at a protest yesterday.
Charles Rex Arbogast/AP

A Chicago Black Lives Matter organizer defended widespread looting in the Windy City over the weekend, calling it “reparation.”

“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,” organizer Ariel Atkins said at a rally outside the South Loop police station Monday, WMAQ-TV reported.

“That’s a reparation,” Atkins said. “Anything they want to take, take it because these businesses have insurance.”

The rally was held in the wake of a violent weekend in the city that saw 100 arrests and 13 police officers injured after a 20-year-old man was shot and wounded by cops after firing at the officers.

The violence prompted the city to deploy “multi-layered” security measures that will restrict access to downtown Chicago from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. as of Monday.

The measures call for bus service to be suspended, highway ramps to be closed, and all but seven of the 18 Loop bridges in the city remaining open — with police checkpoints.

Police also identified the man shot by officers as Latrell Allen, who was shot in the shoulder after opening fire on cops, Police Superintendent David Brown said at a press conference Monday.

Allen was recovering at the University of Chicago Hospital and is expected to survive to face attempted murder charges.

But Atkins questioned the police account of the incident at the Monday rally.

“Police say a lot of things,” she said. “They didn’t even have their body cameras on.”

Police conceded the offers involved in the shooting did not have body cameras and are asking the community for any videos of the incident, according to WMAQ.