JOLIET, IL — Monday's three-hour protest rally organized on behalf of the Black Lives Matter movement started off rather loudly with a handful of people trying to be confrontational with Joliet police standing nearby. However, by the end of the protest, several demonstrators were interacting with the officers and even posing for pictures with them.
About an hour into the protest rally at Jefferson Street and Larkin Avenue, in front of the White Castle restaurant, Edgar Ascencio of Joliet and Olivia Walker of Minooka showed up with four dozen bright flowers. The two began handing out their flowers to fellow demonstrators and motorists waiting at the stoplight who supported their cause.
The two also approached Joliet Police Lt. Joe Egizio and several Joliet Police officers overlooking the crowd to give each officer a flower to put in their shirt pocket. The officers accepted them.
Ascenscio and Walker returned a few minutes later to take photographs with the group of Joliet police officers who were appreciative of their kindness and friendly tone during the protest, which remained peaceful.
The demonstration began at 5 p.m. and ended without any problems when Egizio told everyone they had to leave at 8 p.m. because of the new curfew imposed earlier in the day by Joliet Mayor Bob O'Dekirk in an effort to stop the violence and unrest that overlook the city on Sunday night. At least 10 businesses were damaged by looters, and one Mexican grocery store at 704 West Jefferson St. went up flames as a result of the lawless mob, according to city officials.
"I'm just hoping that there is finally going to be some change and equality for everybody," the young woman from Minooka told Joliet Patch's editor.
The young man from Joliet handing out the flowers told Patch his purpose for attending Monday evening's rally at the busy intersection was to push for more police accountability in light of last week's death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police.
"And keeping children out of the cages," Ascenscio told Patch, referring to jails and prison. "Black lives matter."
Ascenscio said participating in Monday's demonstration was important.
"People are angry, man," he remarked.
(Joliet Patch article continues below this photo.)
Earlier in the evening, Joliet residents Erick Wiley and Megan Ostendorf were yelling loudly at the passing cars letting everyone know they were disgusted with the actions of police officers who have been involved in the deaths of African-Americans.
Wiley compared the Black Lives Matter movement to the French Revolution, Civil War and American Revolution. "If we don't do it, no one is safe," he said.
At one point early in the demonstration, some protesters began arguing with Wiley urging him to soften his tone toward the group of Joliet Police officers who just arrived.
By the night's end, Egizio was having a friendly conversation with Wiley. There was no animosity, no anger, just a peaceful productive talk between the two.
Between 6:30 and 7 p.m., an older woman pulled into the parking lot and bought the demonstrators 100 White Castle sliders.
The White Castles were distributed to the demonstrators, and, at the prodding of the demonstrators, some of the Joliet officers agreed to eat some of the sliders they were offered by the demonstrators.
The older woman then sat in her car in the parking lot of the White Castle and watched the peaceful demonstration for at least 15 to 20 minutes.
"I'm an old hippie from the 1960s," she told Patch. "I'm an old Kent State University protester."
She said she felt so badly for what happened to Floyd in Minneapolis.
"That broke my heart," she told Patch, asking that her name not be published.
Why did the Joliet woman dig into her purse to buy 100 White Castle sliders for a group of demonstrators she did not know?
"Today, they were peaceful," she said. "Someone should be here feeding them. And I fed the cops, too."
She told Patch it's important that police aggression does not go unchecked.
During Monday's three-hour protest, thousands of motorists honked their horns in agreement with the Black Lives Matter demonstrators in a show of unity on Joliet's west side.
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