No massive unrest is expected on Tuesday, April 5 when Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza is scheduled to speak on the campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago — the same school where a Donald Trump campaign event was canceled last month out of safety concerns.
The taxpayer-funded school’s department of African American studies is sponsoring Garza’s lecture.
“Outraged by the 2013 acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, Alicia Garza took to social media to express her anguish and love for the black community,” a UIC press release explains. (RELATED: The Daily Caller Obtains Trayvon Martin’s Tweets)
“It was then that Garza — together with Opal Tometi and Patrisse Cullors — turned the powerful words ‘Black Lives Matter’ into a social media phenomenon and an organizing network that boasts more than 26 chapters internationally. #BlackLivesMatter has evolved into the banner under which this generation’s human rights movement marches.”
The topic of Garza’s speech is unclear.
Less than a month ago, on Friday, March 11, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump canceled a campaign event on the University of Illinois at Chicago campus amid safety concerns as hundreds of protesters clashed with supporters at the event.
The Trump event had been slated to occur at the UIC Pavilion, a 9,500-seat arena a little over half a mile from the — much smaller — venue where Garza will speak on Tuesday. (RELATED: Trump Cancels Chicago Event Amid Chaos, Safety Concerns)
“For the safety of all of the tens of thousands of people that have gathered in and around the arena, tonight’s rally will be postponed to another date,” a Trump campaign statement explained on the evening of his campaign rally. “Thank you very much for your attendance and please go in peace.”
The cancellation led to cheers among the protesters, many of whom were chanting the name of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Trump’s supporters responded with chants of “USA! USA!”
Scuffles ensued inside the venue. Gleeful demonstrators packed the streets outside — partly in celebration, partly still protesting Trump.
The line of people waiting to get into the already-packed UIC Pavilion was at least half a mile long when the cancellation was announced.
A petition demanding that UIC officials call off the Trump campaign rally had accumulated about 50,000 signatures prior to the event.
Some 10,000 Facebook pledged to show up to protest Trump’s Chicago rally.
The myriad organizers of the protest that caused Trump to cancel his Chicago appearance included the Chicago franchise of ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), an international network started in the wake of 9/11 and among the first to protest against a response in Afghanistan; the Illinois Coalition of Immigrant and Refugee Rights, a radical leftist group specializing in immigration; and the Chicago branch of La Raza, the notoriously radical pro-illegal immigration group. (RELATED: Here Are The Radical Leftist Anti-Trump Groups Behind The Chicago Protest)
Garza’s Tuesday lecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago will occur at 5 p.m. in Room B of the UIC Student Center East (750 S. Halsted St.).Admission is free. The event is open to the public.
Follow Eric on Twitter. Like Eric on Facebook. Send education-related story tips to erico@dailycaller.com.