Left-wing Asian man claims Chicago cross burning—says it was anti-Trump protest, not white supremacy

A 21-year-old University of Illinois Chicago student has said he is the person connected to the cross burning in Chicago's Grant Park last week. Senior Merlin Lu told NBC 5 Chicago's Chuck Goudie that his motive was to protest the Trump administration and that he understood the historical significance of the imagery.

"I did know about this historical relevance beforehand, but I didn't know the severity, how racially motivated it may seem from what I did," he said. "Cause my protest has nothing to do with race, nothing to do with gender." Lu has been taken into police custody as a person of interest in connection to the cross burning.

Lu said he built the cross from wooden slats he carried from his West Side apartment. He claimed he was protesting what he described as MAGA Christian supporters and the Trump administration's "ruling class."

"He's just scamming people," Lu said. "We're just scamming me out of money, right. And I think that's a great reflection of how this country works right now, where money controls everything. Money has power over health care. Money has power over transportation."

The revelation comes after Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker claimed the burning was connected to fascism.

"The fact that it even occurred at all speaks to what happens when the seeds of racism and fascism grow unchecked in our country," Pritzker said. "The threats are real. And in times like these, it's easy to fall prey to despair, to think that the fight for justice is just too costly to engage in, that the mountain is too high to climb and the path is too narrow to navigate."

Frank Chapman, who serves as executive director of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, oddly attempted to tie the cross burning to President Trump's pardon of Jan. 6 rioters, per the AP.

"The same kind of people got the same white supremacist mentality as a cross-burning," Chapman said. "So, they figured like they got a license now ... with people pardoned and more or less shaking hands with the devil."