Sorry Donald Trump, This is Chicago

CHICAGO, IL - The Donald Trump train made a stop in Chicago Friday night, but we weren’t having it.

Not in our city. Not in 2016.

Divided America was on full display near the UIC Pavilion, on the campus of the University of Illinois-Chicago. On one side you had those who support Trump and his message of “Make America Great Again.” Then you had thousands of others — fittingly a diverse group representing just about every race, religion and background — there in protest.

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They were there against Trump. They were there against hate.

It was the perfect storm of uneasiness. Trump’s ideas, including a plan to “build a wall” to keep Mexican immigrants out of the country and a proposed ban on any Muslim from entering the United States among others, are in direct contrast to what Chicago stands for.

[ PERSPECTIVE ]

This wasn’t the first rally Trump held during his bid for the presidency. And while all others also saw a measure of protests, violence and fighting, it wasn’t too surprising that Chicago was the place where all boiled over.

“When I first heard that Donald Trump was coming to my city...to my SCHOOL...I first thought, oh hell no,” one UIC student blurted out over a microphone to thousands of protesters, who all gathered rows deep on the west side of Racine Avenue.

In a city still reeling from having to watch a video of one of its police officers shoot an unarmed black teenager several times and then find out that video was kept from the public for more than a year.

In a city that has stood up for its beliefs, whether it be protesting the Vietnam War at the 1968 Democratic Convention or letting its voices be heard at the NATO Summit just a few years ago.

In a city that has to deal with shootings on a nightly basis and one that has been nationally embarrassed with the term “Chi-Raq.”

In a city will so much diversity, and so many neighborhoods with people if different backgrounds from all around the world.

It’s a city where Trump is unwanted. He can bring his message of hate to other places, but not Chicago. We weren’t going to take it, and he should have realized that long before he “postponed” the rally shortly after it was scheduled to begin.

Protesters outnumbered supporters by at least a 5-to-1 ratio.

“Stand against Islamophobia,” “Trump is a racist,” “Dump Trump” and “Trump is Hitler” were just a few of the signs you could see stick out through a sea of diversity.

“I’m just here for the sake of humanity,” said Michelle, one of the many Chicagoans who gathered peacefully. “I am of the general belief that Donald Trump is a horrible person, so I just wanted to support my city and First Amendment rights.”

Stephania Muzques and Serai Feliciano, a pair of students from Harry S. Truman College — one of Chicago’s many diverse institutions — said they were there to show the world America is better than this. Better than Donald Trump.

“We don’t want America to be seen around the world as a country of hate,” Muzques said. “They all look at us and are baffled because of this. But we wanted to come here and help show the world that no, not everyone supports him.”

Trump’s previous statements against women and minorities shouldn’t be accepted anywhere. But if you try to bring that to Chicago, we are sending you home.

I had a ticket to the event, but came nowhere close to getting inside. I entered what I thought was a line to get in, but found out about half an hour later that it was a line to nowhere.

At times, it was easy to tell who was there for Trump and who was against him. Supporters wore red hats with the phrase “Make America Great Again.” Those who were angry at the number of people who showed up were generally Trump supporters as well.

Protesters were carrying either an anti-Trump sign or one that read “Feel the Bern” or “Bernie 2016.” There really wasn’t much mention of Hillary Clinton at all. The vast majority of those who showed were adamant that Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders is the best fit for the presidency.

But other times, it was hard to tell who was a protester, and who was there for the rally itself. And everyone was looking each other up and down, one-by-one, trying to figure out what side they might be on.

The confusion boiled over in one odd confrontation when a man upset that someone may have taken his photo confronted a group waiting in line.

“What do you have that camera for?” He asked belligerently. “Don’t take my picture!”

While walking away, he yelled out “I bet you are all here for Trump, huh!”

But the group wasn’t. They were there in protest as well.

Before Friday night, I had no clear visual of a Trump supporter. The people I associate with in life and on social media are without a doubt more liberal than average. I really couldn’t tell you the name of one person who was publicly supporting his campaign.

Before any primary took place, the conspiracy theorist in me thought the Trump thing was still an act. He’s got so much money, he’s probably just buying the pollsters to make it look like he has followers. Just like how he had to hire people to come cheer at the press conference when he first announced his candidacy.

But no one is actually going to vote for him, I thought. When it’s time to cast the ballots, that’s when the act will end. We’ve come a long way in America and even the most closed-minded people aren’t going to want a bigot to lead the nation. The polls would be proven wrong and we could all move on.

But then Trump won New Hampshire. And South Carolina. And Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, Massachusetts, Michigan and others. People actually were supporting him ... to be president. He’s got a giant lead in the Republican delegate count and this act has turned into what many would call a national disgrace.

I naively thought our nation had come a long way against racism and hate. I wanted to think that those who held grudges based on a person’s background or beliefs was a thing of the past and they were in the clear minority now. And while I hold that this is still the case in Chicago, I now know the problem is much larger than I had figured or hoped.

Now that Friday night has come and gone, I have dozens of clear visuals of a Trump supporter. Unfortunately, I may never get these images out of my head. There’s the one of a guy who, unprovoked, walked up to a protester with his hand shaped like a gun and said “Why don’t you just put the gun in your mouth and pull the trigger.” He added a few expletives that I can’t include here. The woman who, while exiting the rally, was flipping the bird to many of the protesters and yelling “Freedom of Speech! Freedom of Speech!”

I walked alongside of her, trying to get another quote from someone in the pro-Trump camp. That’s actually when I first heard the rally had been canceled.

“All these people out here have taken away freedom of speech,” she shouted. “We came to hear him talk, but this was all shut down because we don’t have freedom of speech. There’s no freedom of speech in America!”

Or the woman in a Chicago Blackhawks jersey chanting "TRUMP! TRUMP!" while holding a sign that read “the silent majority Stands with TRUMP.”

Silent is a good word for them. Anonymous may be a better one. None of the Trump supporters I talked to were willing to give me their name. All the anti-Trump people I spoke to did.

Trump’s decision to “postpone” the rally Friday night was the best choice he’s made during the campaign. It should never have been planned, and could have gotten pretty ugly had the rally gone on as planned. A similar rally planned for Sunday in Bloomington, Ill. (a college town about 2.5 hours south of Chicago and another city I once called home) shouldn’t happen either. Even downstate is too close for comfort.

Sure, we have our problems in Chicago. We’ll admit to that. We’re in the midst of a budget crisis, a school crisis and a police crisis. There's still no trauma center on the South Side. Chicago and corruption are one in the same. We have the homeless, crumbling infrastructure and can’t seem to kick the gun violence problem that’s been on the rise pretty much forever.

But we are not going to tolerate a blatant hate monger hating. Especially if he thinks he can run for president and drum up support here.

The Trump train may or may not make its way to the White House, but it won’t get there non-stop. He can go ahead and have full rallies in other cities, but not in Chicago.

He can’t handle Chicago.