Jew World Order

Above: Protesters scuffle with police trying to block people going to annual Martin Luther King, Jr. prayer breakfast at the Hyatt Regency. By Antonio Perez, Chicago Tribune.

For 30 years, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Interfaith Breakfast hosted by Chicago’s mayor has had a political undercurrent, as politicians from across the city paid tribute to the legendary civil rights leader while paying attention to the important constituency of African-American voters.

But on Friday, the event became a political spectacle.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel used his time at the podium to vow he’d wipe out police misconduct, as he continues to deal with the aftermath of the Laquan McDonald police shooting scandal. Prominent African-American pastors took the opportunity to express their displeasure to the mayor by boycotting the event. And a well-known author bailed on giving the breakfast’s keynote address.

Meanwhile, the Chicago Teachers Union held its own MLK breakfast at the same time, and teachers again called for Emanuel’s resignation. The dueling breakfasts left aldermen and union leaders choosing between the two. At least one ambitious politician — City Treasurer Kurt Summers — put in face time at both.

Those who chose to attend Emanuel’s event were greeted by about 20 angry protesters shouting “Shame on you!” as Chicago police worked to keep the group of demonstrators from blocking the entrance to the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place. The breakfast itself was interrupted three times by protesters.

For Emanuel, a breakfast that once served as a positive photo op and glad-handing event had turned into another headache, one requiring the presence of scores of police officers.

Protester Ron Mason outside Hyatt Regency 2016 prayer breakfast. By Antonio Perez, Chicago Tribune.

As the 800 attendees began eating in a second-floor ballroom, a hotel security officer pleaded with a senior Chicago police officer to arrest the angry protesters for trespassing. “We want this to happen,” the officer said of the demonstration. “We have 200 officers out there trained for this.”

Outside, the boycotting ministers attempted to hold a news conference in front of the hotel’s main entrance, but a group of six protesters delayed it by screaming obscenities at the pastors and photographers. The protesters then squeezed past the police officers and pushed aside a security guard blocking the escalator to the ballroom where the breakfast was being held.

After several minutes of cursing, yelling and trying to force their way into the ballroom, the handful of protesters left the building. And the ministers got around to their news conference.

“Other people have the right to protest however they want, but we think ours is inclusive, because we gave people an opportunity to voice their displeasure by their lack of attendance,” said Bishop James Dukes, a South Side pastor who helped organize the boycott. “A clear cut message has been sent to the mayor: He has a lot of work to do.”

The ministers produced a list, claiming that more than 100 pastors had chosen to boycott the breakfast.

“The mayor had to go to his old tactics of bringing busloads of people in from the nursing homes, retirement centers to bring some black faces in to fill the room,” Dukes said. “Those aren’t normally the people who are here.”

An Emanuel spokeswoman did not directly respond to that suggestion. A number of tables in the back of the ballroom were filled with seniors, and 11 buses and shuttles lined up at the hotel afterward to give attendees a ride home.

Former 3rd Ward Alderman Dorothy Tillman gave the keynote address, but the speech had been reserved for author Isabel Wilkerson, who wrote a well-known book on the Great Migration. City spokeswoman Christine Carrino said Wilkerson canceled days before the event, but refused to say why.

A publicist for Wilkerson issued a vague statement saying, “In light of recent events, she is not in a position to take part in the event at this time,” but declined to offer more specifics. Dukes said he and fellow pastors had reached out to Wilkerson to convince her to boycott the mayor’s breakfast.

As Tillman gave the keynote address instead, a woman stood up and began shouting, “16 shots and a cover up!” a reference to how many times the black teen McDonald was shot by white Officer Jason Van Dyke, who was charged with murder 400 days after the shooting as police dash-cam video was about to be released following a judge’s order. As the protester was escorted out of the room, she raised a sign that read, “Why we can’t wait,” the title of King’s book on civil rights.

Helen Turner stands inside during prayer breakfast protesting Mayor Emaneul. By Anonio Perez, Chicago Tribune

A little while later, during a musical performance, Rev. Matthew Ross also shouted “16 shots and a cover up!” as he was escorted out of the ballroom.

“I did what I did, because when I take this collar off, I look just like Laquan McDonald,” said Ross, a South Side minister who was dressed in black wearing a clergy collar. “I believe Mayor Rahm Emanuel is like a spouse who cheated on his wife. Now, he’s trying to buy us back with apologies and gifts. We’re not going to buy it. We’ve had enough.”

When it finally came time for Emanuel to speak, there were no more protests. The mayor called on the audience to use the memory of King to confront and change the “hard lessons and the hard truths that face this city.”

“We will not be the city we need to be and can be unless we restore trust between our police and our communities,” Emanuel said. “To deal with the violence that claims lives on our streets, mostly the lives of young African-American men, we also have to root out the cancer of police abuse.”

After he spoke, Emanuel presented the city’s Champion of Freedom Award to Rev. B. Herbert Martin Sr., who criticized his fellow ministers who chose not to attend.

“To boycott this breakfast is to trample on the graves of our foremothers and forefathers,” said Martin, who was pastor to Harold Washington, Chicago’s first black mayor.

A mile west, at the teachers’ MLK breakfast in the South Loop, CTU president Karen Lewissaid she had little interest in whether Emanuel resigns, though her own union’s governing body has called for him to quit. The mayor has said he’ll serve out the remaining three years on his term.