A Jewish Governor Runs Into Nazi Lovers At Demonstration

 Nadene Goldfoot                                            

Democrat Governor J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, who happens to be Jewish,  had the shock of all shocks in Chicago when he attended a demonstration in the downtown area on May 1, 2020, where hundreds of people were waving American flags and holding signs for him to take back his orders of stay-at home if you test positive for coronavirus and thus jump-start the economy this way. He's trying to rid his state of the virus and get back to normality by issuing these orders. Otherwise, none of us will live in an environment that is safe, like it used to be.  

Dennis Kosuth

@Dennis_Kosuth

"This was one of the signs at the “Re-open Illinois” event today. She assured those that she was not a Nazi, and stated, “I have Jewish friends.” Thank you for representing yourself and your “movement” for what it is." I have a question. Does this woman know what she is holding? Does she realize why she is there? It looks like she thinks she's in a movement but doesn't even know what it is. She is holding something so vile, so vicious that it might as well be a swastika. Most of us twitch and flinch as our eyes land on this poster knowing that it comes from concentration camps where Jews were gassed.

One protester  was holding a handwritten sign saying, "Arbeit macht frei, JB.  That was a sign seen at the Nazi death camps, and it translates as "work sets you free."  Nazis SS guards used it to get concentration camp prisoners to work under the false belief that they would be spared from death.  

Governor Pritzker  "denounced the protester for carrying the sign at Friday's rally in front of the governor's office at the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago as well as several other demonstrators that he said carried signs containing swastikas, including one referring to the governor “Heil Pritzker."      

                                                                                                                                                    Nam Y. Huh/AP                 

Demonstrators rally against Illinois stay-at-home order outside the Thompson Center in Chicago, May 1, 2020...

''The people who were protesting -- there were quite a number of people who seem to have been carrying signs filled with hate,” Pritzker said in a tweet on Saturday. “There were people carrying signs with swastikas on them. The meaning of that swastika is apparently unknown to the people who are carrying it, or if it is known, it is a demonstration of the hate that is among us.”

Who wouldn't blast the messages of hate displayed at the protest?  The governor rightfully did.  This isn't Germany  1937, is it?  Anyone with a high school certificate should know about the history of WWII and what happened to Jews. Anyone who admires Nazi paraphernalia like swastikas is brutally sick.  Any excuse they use like "it has a  different meaning," is lame.

"Pritzker also took to Twitter to condemn such Nazi symbols being used at what organizers had billed as a peaceful protest."

""I've spent decades of my life fighting against bigotry & hatred," Pritzker tweeted, adding that he worked with Holocaust survivors to help raise money for a Holocaust museum in Chicago that was dedicated in 2017."

On August 26, Pritzker announced that a statewide indoor mask mandate would be reimposed in order to handle the surge caused by the Delta variant beginning on August 30. Pritzker also announced a vaccine mandate for all education employees for P-12 and higher education statewide. Pritzker also announced a vaccine mandate for all higher education students and healthcare workers. Pritzker announced that anyone who does not get a COVID-19 vaccine by September 5 will have to do weekly COVID testing.

"The demonstration, one of several protests throughout the state this weekend against Pritzker's stay-at-home orders, came as the number of coronavirus cases in Illinois climbed to 58,505, with 2,559 deaths, according to the latest data released Saturday by the Illinois Department of Public Health."

Pritzker was sued for his stay at home order. Bailey v. Pritzker: On April 27, 2020, Clay County Circuit Court Judge Michael McHaney granted a restraining order against Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s (D) 30-day extension of the state’s stay-at-home order. According to CBS News Chicago, the restraining order applies only to the plaintiff in the case, state Rep. Darren Bailey (R). This means that Bailey does not have to follow the order past its prior expiration date. The order also gives other state residents the opportunity to join in the lawsuit or file their own. Pritzker said he would appeal the ruling. Pritzker appealed the order.

Illinois Republican Party v. Pritzker: On June 15, 2020, the Illinois Republican Party, together with three local Republican groups, filed suit against Governor J.B. Pritzker (D) in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. In their complaint, Republicans argued that their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights had been violated because, "unlike churches, political parties are barred from gathering in groups greater than 10 under the Governor’s Executive Order 2020-38." Republicans said that "[w]hen the state grants access to one set of speakers, it must give equal access and treatment to all speakers of a similar character," contrasting their treatment to both that of churches and protesters. They have asked the court to enjoin the state from enforcing Executive Order 2020-38 against political parties. Pritzker’s spokeswoman, Jordan Abudayyeh, said, "[As] the Republicans who attended protests against the public health guidance are well aware, the State has never prevented people from exercising their First Amendment rights."

Resource:

https://abcnews.go.com/US/nazi-slogan-sign-displayed-open-illinois-rally-ripped/story?id=70480524

https://www.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/illinois/documents/government/coronavirus-disaster-proc-09-17-2021.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._B._Pritzker