Jedidiah Brown: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

Jedidiah Brown

Jedidiah Brown. (Twitter profile picture)

A Chicago activist and former aldermanic candidate was involved in a heartbreaking standoff with police as he threatened suicide on Facebook Live. (Warning: the videos contain extremely graphic and disturbing content).

Jedidiah Brown streamed the disturbing and troubling videos on Facebook Live, although his account was later shut down. Thankfully, Brown lived, perhaps buoyed by the immediate support he received on social media and from the many people who called his cell phone during the streams.

Brown eventually surrendered to police “after officers negotiated with him while he sat in his car, causing Lake Shore Drive near Buckingham Fountain to be blocked downtown for more than an hour,” wrote the Chicago Tribune, although the newspaper did not identify the activist by name.

Brown has been in the news before; he once stormed a Donald Trump rally in Chicago.

On Twitter, he describes himself as, “Chosen Generation/Young Leaders Alliance founder, Community Organizer, Radio Host, Former Chicago 5th ward Aldermanic Candidate, President of Chicago Life…”

Here’s what you need to know:


1. Brown Posted Troubling Facebook Live Videos of the Incident

The videos that Brown posted are hard to listen to and very heartbreaking. In the first one, Brown faces the camera, with the gun visible, in what is basically a Facebook Live suicide note (although thankfully, he did not kill himself). At one point, he points the gun at his head. Due to the extremely disturbing nature, Heavy is not posting the first video. It’s available on YouTube, however.

He starts the video saying, “I want to get on here one more time and talk to you.”

Crying, he says, “I’ve always loved this city. I love my family. I love everybody, and I am so sorry. But it’s over. I can’t recover from this. It’s over.” You can see the gun in his hand. He adds, “I never ever sold out the people of Chicago.”

In the second video (posted above), you can’t see much, but you can hear a lot – the police trying to negotiate with the activist, Brown crying, playing music, and responding to police, sometimes using expletives.

“It’s over,” Brown says, playing musical lyrics that say the same thing. “It’s done.”

“I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me,” police say.

“F-ing stop it. Get back. Get the f- back,” Brown says.

You can see lights being shined through his window. “C’mon talk to us,” the police negotiator says.

“Talk to us. All I need you to do is talk to us…Nobody’s going to hurt you. It doesn’t have to be this way.”

“Get the f- back. Get the f-back,” a crying Brown says.

At one point, the police offered to ride with the activist to the hospital.

Brown’s Facebook account was deleted, although it’s not clear by whom.


2. People Expressed Great Concern for Brown on Social Media

Horrified friends of Brown and other onlookers commented in real time on the Facebook Live video,  pleading with him to not take his own life. The support Brown received is a testament to how many believe his work in Chicago has made a difference in his community.

A sample:

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On Twitter, many also expressed great concern for Brown:

The prayers were answered, as Brown is safe.


3. Police Said Brown Had a Gun & Was Threatening Suicide

The Tribune, in the account of the standoff, said the man had a gun and was threatening suicide. The video show as much – you can see Brown point the gun at his head during one of the troubling Facebook Live videos.

“Police received calls from people concerned about the man after he started broadcasting live on social media,” the Tribune reported.


4. Brown Once Stormed the Stage at a Donald Trump Rally But Says He Hates Rahm Emanuel

Brown made news during the presidential campaign when he stormed the stage at a Donald Trump rally in the Chicago area.

According to NBC Chicago, “Jedidiah Brown was removed from the stage at the University of Illinois-Chicago Pavilion Friday after Donald Trump canceled his rally at the arena.”

NPR reported at the time that Brown was part of the Young Leaders Alliance. Brown told NPR he was called the “N” word and told to go back to Africa by rally attendees. “Having gotten into the middle of the rally, I completely felt hated, I completely felt unsafe, I felt completely uncomfortable,” he told NPR. “And I knew that if this is what I felt, when I saw what they were doing to other people, I couldn’t imagine what others felt. So it became my mission to shut this down because this can’t go on in Chicago.”

However, in the video, Brown also criticizes Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a Democrat. “I hate Rahm Emanuel,” he says, as his phone constantly goes off during the video.

Brown said in another YouTube video that he is a pastor.


5. Brown Felt Responsibility For a Boy’s Suicide & Had Expressed Great Frustration With Chicago Crime Lately

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In the video and in a post on Facebook, Brown talks about the suicide of a relative.

Right before the standoff, Brown had posted on Twitter, asking people to give back money they donated for a Chicago walk.

“To those who gave to http://gofundme.com/walk-Chicago it is my request your funds be refunded. We tried!” he wrote.

The GoFundMe site says:

We are going on a journey through all 77 of Chicago’s neighborhoods, hosting “Village Gatherings” where we will discuss efficient strategies and create an action agenda from the people, to drastically address the crime rate throughout the City of Chicago. The University of Chicago Crime Statistics Report states that poverty is the number 1 catalyst of teen crime, so we are asking for $1 from at least 100,000 people to create economic opportunity and resources, as an alternative to gangs and crime.

On January 23, 2017 Donald Trump sent out a broadcast message via his Twitter account, stating that he would send in the federal government to Chicago, if the carnage didn’t cease. The common enemy of all Chicagoans is crime, and poverty, and we know that together we can solve this issue for the entire city. With only 23 days in this year, Chicago has already reached 233 shooting, with 48 of those shootings resulting in a fatality. Our goal is to walk through all 77 neighborhoods in Chicago, to build rapport within the communities, and help drastically reduce the current pattern of crime within our city, by holding “Village Gatherings” in each of these communities.

Brown had also posted recently about a child who was shot in Chicago.

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Brown has frequently commented on Chicago violence and is heavily involved in efforts to stop it.