JASON RANTZ

Rantz: Activist plans taxpayer-funded CHOP block party a year after murders, attempted rape

May 17, 2021, 9:36 PM | Updated: May 18, 2021, 11:39 am

Signs at the entrance to the CHOP. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) 
              A sign on the street reads "Welcome to the CHOP," Saturday, June 20, 2020, inside what has been named the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone in Seattle. A pre-dawn shooting near the area left one person dead and critically injured another person, authorities said Saturday. The area has been occupied by protesters after Seattle Police pulled back from several blocks of the city's Capitol Hill neighborhood near the Police Department's East Precinct building. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
            
              CHOP is spray painted on a barricade, Saturday, June 20, 2020, inside what has been named the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone in Seattle. A pre-dawn shooting near the area left one person dead and critically injured another person, authorities said Saturday. The area has been occupied by protesters after Seattle Police pulled back from several blocks of the city's Capitol Hill neighborhood near the Police Department's East Precinct building. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
            
              A person who said he goes by the name James Madison carries a rifle as he walks Saturday, June 20, 2020, near what has been named the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone in Seattle. Madison is part of the volunteer security team who have been working inside the CHOP zone, and said he and other armed volunteers were patrolling Saturday to keep the area safe. A pre-dawn shooting Saturday near the area left one person dead and critically injured another person, authorities said Saturday. The area has been occupied by protesters after Seattle Police pulled back from several blocks of the city's Capitol Hill neighborhood near the Police Department's East Precinct building. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
            
              A member of the volunteer security team at the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest Zone carries a rifle as he walks Saturday, June 20, 2020, inside the CHOP in Seattle. Armed volunteers said they were patrolling Saturday to keep the area safe. A pre-dawn shooting Saturday near the area left one person dead and critically injured another person, authorities said Saturday. The area has been occupied by protesters after Seattle Police pulled back from several blocks of the city's Capitol Hill neighborhood near the Police Department's East Precinct building. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
            
              A person who said he goes by the name James Madison, left, carries a rifle as he walks with Javi Cordero, Saturday, June 20, 2020, inside what has been named the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone in Seattle. Both men are part of the volunteer security team who have been working inside the CHOP zone. A pre-dawn shooting Saturday near the area left one person dead and critically injured another person, authorities said Saturday. The area has been occupied by protesters after Seattle Police pulled back from several blocks of the city's Capitol Hill neighborhood near the Police Department's East Precinct building. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
            
              A sign on a barricade reads "Welcome to CHOP," Saturday, June 20, 2020, at the intersection of 10th Ave. and Pine St. at the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone in Seattle. A pre-dawn shooting near the area left one person dead and critically injured another person, authorities said Saturday. The area has been occupied by protesters after Seattle Police pulled back from several blocks of the city's Capitol Hill neighborhood near the Police Department's East Precinct building. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
            
              Pedestrians walk Sunday, June 21, 2020, in Seattle, where streets are blocked off in what has been named the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP) zone. Police pulled back from several blocks of the city's Capitol Hill neighborhood near the Police Department's East Precinct building earlier in the month after clashes with people protesting the death of George Floyd. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
            
              A person who said he goes by the name James Madison, second from right, carries a rifle as he walks Saturday, June 20, 2020, inside what has been named the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone in Seattle. Madison is part of the volunteer security team who have been working inside the CHOP zone, and said he and other armed volunteers were patrolling Saturday to keep the area safe. A pre-dawn shooting Saturday near the area left one person dead and critically injured another person, authorities said Saturday. The area has been occupied by protesters after Seattle Police pulled back from several blocks of the city's Capitol Hill neighborhood near the Police Department's East Precinct building. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

An activist plans a block party to celebrate the deadly Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP). How utterly disgusting. What is there to celebrate?

CHOP, also known as the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ), came from a violent conflict with the police. It directly caused the violent murders of two Black teenagers, the shootings of two others, attempted rape of a deaf woman, multiple assaults, vandalism, a riot, and more.

Celebrate CHOP? It is a stain on our city. Yet, the man spearheading the event is seeking taxpayer funds.

Rantz: CHOP Seattle is very clearly not a peaceful utopia but maybe it can be

CHOP celebration is the worst idea since CHOP

Mark Anthony with CHOP Art Nonprofit is planning the event for the weekend of June 11. It will include artists, musicians, and speakers. His intent, he said, was to create a “positive image for change.” But CHOP wasn’t a positive image at the time it existed.

“CHOP, the people who were really there for the right reasons, we weren’t there to destroy these businesses or damage them in any way,” Anthony told KOMO TV. “Now there were bad actors there, I can’t lie.”

Those bad actors took over CHOP. They’re the reason why the autonomous zone existed.

It was an armed insurrection. It was responsible for loss of life. Activists can romanticize CHOP all they want, but it was a farce that became deadly.

We should not celebrate CHOP; we should ridicule it. It should bring shame to this city. And everyone who helped create and maintain CHOP has blood on their hands.

Anthony said he’s looking for significant donations to cover the costs for the block party. He’s raising the money from private donations and seeking roughly $9,000 from the City of Seattle.

Will tax dollars pay for this disturbing celebration?

The Seattle Parks and Recreation Department could potentially help Anthony.

Parks announced it’s offering financial assistance and planning to qualified Cal Anderson Park events and activities this summer. It says it’s waiving many fees for events and that “staff is available to discuss event planning and related issues.”

It remains unclear if Anthony’s disturbing event would qualify for funds as Parks hasn’t announced grant recipients yet. But it would be hard to justify the city putting money into this event.

They might be better off sending any grant money to the victims’ families murdered thanks to the city’s incompetent leadership. Perhaps they could offer it up to the businesses negatively impacted by the vandalism. Or, better yet, they could spend the funding on an iPhone 101 course to teach how not to delete text messages potentially tied to an ongoing lawsuit.

Did you like this opinion piece? Then listen to the Jason Rantz Show weekday afternoons from 3-6 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (or HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow @JasonRantz  on  Twitter,  Instagram, and Parler and like me on Facebook

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Rantz: Activist plans taxpayer-funded CHOP block party a year after murders, attempted rape