Surprisingly, Chicago Democrat Mayor Lori Lightfoot celebrated her two-year anniversary this week by showcasing just how racist she really is. Instead of throwing a party or simply buying a cake, Lightfoot decided to commemorate her years of service by granting interviews to the press. There was only one stipulation – the journalists had to be black or brown.
Seeing the request as a mistake, even the media was shocked on Tuesday when Lightfoot confirmed the decision. Not only did Lightfoot appear happy about the move, but she also released a two-page letter explaining her actions and how it was used to celebrate her anniversary.
— Tahman Bradley (@tahmanbradley) May 19, 2021
The letter stated, “By now you may have heard the news that on the occasion of the two-year anniversary of my inauguration as Mayor of this great City, I will be exclusively providing one-on-one interviews with journalists of color. As a person of color, I have throughout my adult life done everything that I can to fight for diversity and inclusion in every institution that I have been a part of and being Mayor makes me uniquely situated to shine a spotlight on this most important issue.”
Lightfoot also explained how she was shocked “by the overwhelming whiteness and maleness of Chicago media outlets, editorial boards, the political press corps, and yes, the City Hall press corps specifically.”
But some aren’t buying Lightfoot’s story about diversity and are seeing it as nothing more than a publicity stunt to turn the spotlight away from how bad and racist of a leader she is. Journalist Zaid Jilani tweeted, “Lori Lightfoot presided over an enormous increase in homicides, almost all of them in African American or Latino communities, and she’s hoping these PR stunts get liberal America to give her a pass for failing to save people’s lives.”
Lori Lightfoot presided over an enormous increase in homicides, almost all of them in African American or Latino communities, and she's hoping these PR stunts get liberal America to give her a pass for failing to save people's lives.
— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) May 19, 2021
Even Lightfoot’s own Chicago Tribune saw the decision as a bad move, leading to Latino reporter Gregory Pratt to cancel his interview request. He later discussed the move on social media. “I am a Latino reporter @chicagotribune whose interview request was granted for today. However, I asked the mayor’s office to lift its condition on others and when they said no, we respectfully canceled. Politicians don’t get to choose who covers them.”
This piece was written by Jeremy Porter on May 21, 2021. It originally appeared in DrewBerquist.com and is used by permission.
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