Politics
‘We’re Not Going Back to That’: Chicagoans Join First Major RNC Protest in Milwaukee
(Video produced by Nicole Cardos)
Thousands of protesters — including many from Chicago — took part in the first major protest of the Republican National Convention through the heart of Milwaukee on Monday afternoon in a peaceful march that briefly shut down streets around the convention hall.
Marching under flags that read “Dump Trump,” “Lock Him Up” and “Let Gaza Live,” protesters railed against former President Donald Trump, attacks on women’s reproductive rights and the ongoing war in Gaza.
Despite a brief encounter with pro-abortion counterprotesters, the two-hour march remained peaceful and calm as demonstrators snaked through downtown Milwaukee.
For some who made the trip from Chicago, Monday’s march served as a practice round before more planned protests during the Democratic National Convention in August.
“We live in the belly of the beast,” said Kobi Guillory, a teacher and activist from Chicago. “This is the headquarters of the world imperialist system. That means it’s our responsibility to destroy that system. … That’s why we’re here protesting at the RNC, (and) that’s why next month we’re gonna be in Chicago protesting against the DNC.”
Guillory said defeating Trump’s agenda is a “matter of life and death for working and oppressed people.”
Protesters march through the streets of Milwaukee during the Republican National Convention on July 15, 2024. (Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News)
Liz Rathburn, president of the Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Illinois Chicago, said it was important for them to come to Milwaukee and stand up to a Republican agenda.
“More than anything I hope they see there is a contingent of people who are not going to just go away for four years and let them do whatever they want when they win in November,” they said. “We are going to be here to fight them every step of the way no matter what. Whether they come out of November with a president or with absolutely nothing, we will still be here, we will still be organizing and fighting to defend people’s rights.”
While protesters roundly denounced Trump, many also called out President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for their ongoing support of Israel.
Hatem Abudayyeh, chair of the Chicago-based U.S. Palestinian Community Network, said he came to protest the RNC because Republicans have continued to provide “political, diplomatic and financial cover for Israel” to kill tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza amid the ongoing war with Hamas.
Abudayyeh, who also serves as a spokesperson for the Coalition to March on the Democratic National Convention, called on protesters to “do their part” to force an end to the United States’ aid of Israel.
“In the debate we heard Trump say that Israel must be allowed to ‘finish the job,’” Abudayyeh said. “We know what that means, that Trump not only supports the genocide, he also wants to intensify it, to kill more and more Palestinians.”
Richard Berg, a member of the Chicago Teachers Union who traveled to Milwaukee for Monday’s protest, said that if Trump were to be reelected in November, “the magnitude of the disaster (would be) hard to measure.”
Berg said that while Trump was president, he gutted the resources for children and privatized large sections of education. He fears that if Trump does serve a second term, he would gut unions and pull resources from public education.
“It’s important, I think, for teachers and parents and everybody to stand up and say, look, we’re not going back to that,” Berg said. “In fact, we need more resources in education for today in Chicago and everywhere else.”
Protesters march through the streets of Milwaukee during the Republican National Convention on July 15, 2024. (Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News)
Red Arrow Park, where the protest march kicked off, was also the site of the fatal 2013 police shooting of Dontre Hamilton, an unarmed man who was shot 14 times by Milwaukee officers following a confrontation in the park. No criminal charges were brought against any of the officers involved.
Jasmine Smith, an activist with the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, said corrupt police have been protected by both Republicans and Democrats for far too long.
“In Chicago, we’re fighting against police crimes,” she said. “We’re fighting against police and dirty detectives that have kidnapped and wrongfully convicted our loved ones.”
‘We Know How to Keep Each Other Safe’
Following the attempted assassination of Trump during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, the head of the Secret Service on Monday said the agency reviewed and strengthened its security plans for the RNC.
U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on Monday said that shooting, which left one person dead, has “understandably led to questions” about security updates for this week’s convention.
But Cheatle said she remains “confident in the security plan our Secret Service RNC coordinator and our partners have put in place, which we have reviewed and strengthened in the wake of Saturday’s shooting.”
Police officers stand watch during a protest march through Milwaukee during the Republican National Convention on July 15, 2024. (Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News)
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson also expressed confidence in the public safety plan for the convention. He said Monday that the night before the convention was largely “uneventful,” through two people were arrested near the RNC’s security zone overnight, both of whom were intoxicated.
Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling — who has sent officers to assist with the RNC — said Monday he has spoken with Milwaukee Police Department Chief Jeffrey Norman and believes Norman is handling RNC security the “right way.”
“We’re helping each other out, we’re having these conversations because we want to understand best practices,” Snelling said at a news conference in Chicago. “We want to know what they’re seeing there, we want to let them know what we’re seeing here, and if there’s any info to share, we also will do that.”
Protesters on Monday expressed little concern about any violence directed at the march.
“We know how to keep each other safe,” Guillory said.
