Local Black Lives Matter founder in Illinois caught on video fighting employee who accused him of misusing funds

A violent fight between two members of a local Black Lives Matter (BLM) organization in Illinoisled to police intervention, amid allegations of mishandling of the group's funds.

Police in Waukegan, Illinois, went to the 'Black Lives Matter Lake County' office on Jan. 12 after receiving a report of assault. At the scene they found the local organization's founder and executive director, Clyde McLemore, and project manager, Nyesha Hill, with minor injuries such as scratches and broken fingernails.

According to McLemore, Hill entered his office demanding money and cigarettes.The activist told agents that he replied that he had no money and asked him to leave. According to his account, Hill refused to leave, grabbed him by the hood and punched him in the face.

Hill, on the other hand, offered a very different account. She told officers that she had confronted McLemore about the use of organization funds andthat the altercation began when he tried to push her toward the exit after she refused to leave without receiving payment for her work.

In statements picked up by the officers' body camera, Hill claimed that she had seen McLemore spend money intended for the group on "women" and gambling.

Police made no arrests after finding no probable cause, so neither faced charges. Hill also noted that he decided not to pursue legal action because he did not want to see "a black man in jail."

In the body camera video, Hill told officers that disputes between the two had been frequent, amid disagreements related to outstanding payments while she cared for her son.

According to journalist Andy Ngo, it would not be the first fight between the two. Surveillance footage from a separate incident that occurred between October and November 2025 would also show another confrontation.

Both McLemore and Hill have criminal records. McLemore was arrested for trespassing during a Waukegan City Council meeting in 2022 and for participating in riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2021. He was also sentenced in October 2024 to 40 days in jail for contempt of court following an incident in a Lake County courtroom.

Hill, for his part, served more than four years in prison for his involvement in a kidnapping case that occurred in Zion, Illinois, where he and an accomplice beat a victim and demanded money as ransom.

McLemore also currently serves on the Lake County Regional Board of School Trustees in Illinois.