[Jane Byrne’s Easter at Cabrini raw #2]

Raw footage of Jane Byrne's Easter Celebration at Cabrini Green in 1981. This tape begins with a continuation of footage of Byrne at the carnival and riding on a carousel. After she leaves, a protest begins, and demonstrators are quickly arrested. Activist Marion Stamps and reporter Lu Palmer are interviewed.

00:00Copy video clip URL Continuation of footage of Byrne and entourage walking through the festival. They arrive at a carousel and Byrne rides it with some children and a lot of photographers. Afterwards, she and her group leave.

04:58Copy video clip URL Cut to a small protest, where about 20 demonstrators are shouting, “we need jobs, not eggs!” Two police offers come over, and the demonstrators transition to shouting “Jane Byrne is Ku Klux Klan!”

06:35Copy video clip URL Suddenly, the camera pans to police removing and handcuffing a man, which causes the scene to become chaotic and very quickly crowded. A woman starts yelling “Assassins! Assassins!”  The crowd confronts police about the reasons that this man was arrested. No answers are forthcoming, and more men begin to be arrested. Police will not give any information other than telling people to go to the 18th district for more information. More people are loaded onto paddy wagons.

11:02Copy video clip URL Activist Marion Stamps (1945-1996) speaks to the crowd: “That woman wants to destroy black manhood in this city and all over this country!”

12:08Copy video clip URL Videomaker Tom Weinberg interviews reporter Lu Palmer (1922-2004), who observed most of the action. He says that the small group of demonstrators was marching, then the police tried to take Marian Stamps’ bullhorn, some men argued about this, and then they were arrested and anyone who protested that was also arrested. His explanation is interrupted by renewed shouts of “Jane Byrne is Ku Klux Klan!”

15:36Copy video clip URL Cut to a longer shot, where a small group of demonstrators is still visible across the street.

16:15Copy video clip URL End of tape.