OLYMPIA FIELDS - The only African-American running for State Senate this year in Illinois as a Republican says he won't be participating in the Black Lives Matter planned shutdown of the Dan Ryan Expressway Saturday.
Dr. Eric Wallace, who's challenging Democrat incumbent State Senator Patrick Joyce (D-Park Forest) in November 2020, says the Black Lives Matter's basis in Marxism is a key reason he won't be joining the protest Saturday at noon. The group's energy is misplaced, he said.
"No, I will have no part of ‘Black Lives Matter’ until they renounce the Marxists roots and disdain for the natural family," Wallace told Illinois Review. "In my opinion, they should use all their energy to shut down all the gang violence that kills young black boys and girls in the City of Chicago. They should use their misplaced righteous indignation to shut down the abortion clinics that take the black lives of the most innocent and vulnerable—babies. They should also mobilize against the number one issue in some black communities, the proliferation of fatherless homes."
Wallace, who sought a state senate seat in 2006, is determined to focus on root issues that he believes are the most destructive to Illinois' black community. A conservative that has served on church staffs and as a theology professor said the energy needs to be put into basic values.
"Let’s mobilize for marriage and two parent households because Black Families Matter," he said.
Sen. Joyce was appointed in November 2019 to replace former state Senator Toi Hutchison, who now chairs Illinois' cannabis program.
