Who ever could have guessed????

Chicago Cross-Burning Incident Blamed on ‘White Supremacists’ was Carried Out by Leftist Anti-Trump/Anti-MAGA Protester


"On June 9, 2026, police and firefighters responded to a burning cross in Chicago’s Grant Park.

The incident prompted immediate backlash, and one local church offered a $10,000 reward to help make an arrest, and local officials were quick to blame the incident on racism and ‘white supremacists.’

Block Club Chicago reports that Rev. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Church, who offered the reward, noted, “Racism has always been a part of America’s DNA, and this week it has raised its head boldly and loudly,” Pfleger said in a statement.

“This bold rise of racism must be condemned by every race, faith community, and Chicagoan as was done with the swastika and treated as a hate crime.”

In a statement Wednesday afternoon, Mayor Brandon Johnson said the police investigation “remains ongoing.”

“Like many Chicagoans across our city, we were deeply disturbed upon seeing the images which have emerged following this incident,” the statement said. “Hate has no place in our city. Every Chicagoan deserves to feel safe, protected, and respected while going about their day or enjoying our public spaces.”

Several members of the council’s Black Caucus learned about the incident Wednesday morning when asked about it by Block Club Chicago. Ald. Greg Mitchell (7th) was initially speechless when a reporter showed him a photo of the burning cross.

“I can’t believe it’s 2026, we are still dealing with stuff like that … That’s the simplest I can put it,” Mitchell said.

As it turns out, however, the cross-burner is an Asian man, Merlin Lu, who burned the cross, adorned with a MAGA hat, to protest President Trump and MAGA.


Lu, a senior at the University of Illinois Chicago, spoke with NBC.

“He’s just scamming people,” Lu told the reporter.

“We’re just being scammed out of money, right. And I think that’s a great reflection of how this country works right now, where money controls everything.”

As for burning the cross, which the Anti-Defamation League says is one of the “most potent hate symbols in the United States,” Lu responded, “I wanted to find something that I could do by myself, like no organization, no friends,” he added.

“I did know about this historical relevance beforehand, but I didn’t know the severity, how racially motivated it may seem from what I did.”


LINK


UPDATE:

What an imbecile and now the story will be ignored now that the culprit has been identified as a leftist and not a Trump supporter or conservative.

The demand for racism exceeds the supply

quote:

Originally posted by lkdr1989:
The demand for racism exceeds the supply

Well put.

quote:

Originally posted by calugo:
What an imbecile and now the story will be ignored now that the culprit has been identified as a leftist and not a Trump supporter or conservative.

I'm sure we'll see his office issue an apology to MAGA constituents soon....

Who gets the $10,000?

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:
Who gets the $10,000?

I find the party offering the reward more interesting.

quote:

Block Club Chicago reports that Rev. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Church, who offered the reward, noted, “Racism has always been a part of America’s DNA, and this week it has raised its head boldly and loudly,” Pfleger said in a statement.

Remember Pfleger and his ties to Obama and Jeremiah Wright? He's an upstanding, totally unbiased cleric.

Perhaps racism exists in all our dna, globally, and forever will. But you don’t see the right acting upon it. It always seems that only the left act upon it, from the KKK to the current leftists trying to make it seem like it’s the right.

It’s always the fucking left. It’s so common that whenever I see headlines about a racist act, it immediately comes to mind that someone one the left did something. Stupid fucking crazy people.

Time and again, they prove that they can’t get their way without deceit, corruption, fraud.

quote:

Originally posted by FiveFiveSixFan:
Remember Pfleger and his ties to Obama and Jeremiah Wright? He's an upstanding, totally unbiased cleric.

Yes, I remember him. It is highly disturbing that the Catholic Church allows him to be called a priest, and especially to lead a congregation (parish).


Jesus said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin." -Luke 17:1-2



.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
Perhaps racism exists in all our dna, globally, and forever will...

I believe racism is another form of hate. And hate is sin. We definitely have a sin problem.



.

Become a victim, one way or another

Somewhat reminiscent of the southern poverty law center drumming up racial angst to capitalize railing against it.

Burning a cross in Chicago imbedded Grant Park is akin to the Smollet fiasco. Let’s see some punishment, doxing, and repetition degradation towards the perpetrators.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
Perhaps racism exists in all our dna, globally, and forever will. But you don’t see the right acting upon it. It always seems that only the left act upon it, from the KKK to the current leftists trying to make it seem like it’s the right.

My hypothesis is that we don't have a genetic disposition to racism, but we do to culturalism. Cultures which are substantially different in values are uncomfortable. Ones which we find either dangerous or inferior to ours will trigger a self-protective feeling. Someone with similar values doesn't trigger a negative prejudice even if they are a different race or religion.

The difference between conservatives and the left is that conservatives seek to bring up people from an inferior situation, e.g. a poverty creating culture, whereas the left seeks to destroy cultures that they feel threatened by. Furthermore, leftists seem to have a dysfunctional belief that dangerous cultures can be hugged into being best friends.

When certain segments of society's demands for racism to continue the myth exceed society's ability to furnish it, you get stuff like this.

It's rare, to non-existent, that the groups purported to have committed theses acts actually do.

quote:

Originally posted by Fly-Sig:
My hypothesis is that we don't have a genetic disposition to racism ....

Although I agree with some of your comment, I believe there are strong evolutionary advantages to distrusting and therefore disliking people who are different from us, i.e., not from our tribe.

I’ve never seen any theories about how early humans started separating into different groups, but I can think of a variety of reasons. Even the biblical story about the expulsion of Cain from the first family and his being sent off to somehow establish his own family refers to tribal separations.

Once different groups/tribes have coalesced in separate isolated areas, there would be good, strong reasons for people to develop genetic traits that enhanced their isolation. Strangers could have been very dangerous to a tribe’s existence. They might bring new diseases, they might compete for resources, they might attract and entice away desirable mates, or be unwelcome for other reasons such as possibly pissing off the local gods for not recognizing or worshiping them properly. I am convinced, for example, that all the Old Testament commandments that refer to how “neighbors” should be treated refer to members of one’s own tribe. It’s okay to plunder and kill strangers, but not the guy living in the tent next to you because such acts have very bad consequences for the tribe as a whole.

Now, of course, because there are so many of us, “tribes” can form and dissolve almost as rapidly as eddies in a river, but our genetic makeup can take a long time to change in response to societal changes. Our innate suspicion of those we don’t know is still there lurking under the surface of what our culture may teach us as regards to “others,” i.e., people who aren’t like us.

Much is made of the effects of people being suspicious of or hostile to people who are very obviously different from us. Skin color and other racial features are obviously going to get our attention very quickly because they are so visually apparent. But when we deplore racism we shouldn’t forget that an obvious difference such as skin color isn’t necessary for the effects of tribalism to manifest themselves. Consider the history of Ireland. People can look and mostly act exactly the same as each other and still be considered members of different tribes. In some parts of the world tribes aren’t even separated by religious beliefs, just the fact that they are there and we are here is sufficient for us to fight each other.

“Can’t we just all get along?” is often mocked as a pollyannaish view of how society should function, but fundamentally that’s what it takes for different tribes to overcome whatever genetic influences affect our attitudes toward each other. And that’s where culture does come in.

Our cultural norms that are established by various forces, including the leadership and other “influencers” that can reinforce or tamp down our genetic tendency to dislike people who aren’t members of our tribe. Unfortunately, there is a lot of the former these days.

There will always be people within a tribe who try to enhance their own position and stature by demonizing others, but what has been less common throughout history is the presence of large numbers of people in other tribes who will condone and even encourage such movements. For example, supporting the idea that murder is justified in response to a trivial slight or that mass rape should be tolerated because of someone’s religion is bizarre beyond belief, but just look around us.

Victor Davis Hanson perspective on some of what I posted:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJtR4HHEAVM

This message has been edited. Last edited by: sigfreund,

https://cwbchicago.com/2026/06...t-liberal-judge.html

This is why I love Chicago, and it’s politics!
This place is fuckin awesome!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by CPD SIG:
https://cwbchicago.com/2026/06...t-liberal-judge.html

This is why I love Chicago, and it’s politics!
This place is fuckin awesome!!!!

At least he's consistent. He doesn't hold himself accountable either.

quote:

“Between 2011 and 2018, the state and federal governments filed liens against Thedford and his wife seeking to collect about $249,000 in unpaid taxes, interest, and penalties,” Injustice Watch reported. “In 2020, the couple declared bankruptcy and reported that they owed the IRS some $220,000 and owed the Illinois Department of Revenue about $10,000.”