BY BILL JUNEAU
The first two years of Mayor Lori Lightfoot's administration in Chicago have been dismal and unproductive, but who knew that she harbored such ill will for whites.
As she was marking the completion of her second year as Chicago's 56th mayor and its first gay, African American woman to hold the position, the occasion needed more than just a cake with two candles on it. And so, the mayor announced that one-on-one interviews with her would go forward, but only if the inquiring journalists were persons "of color."
For too long, she said, she had noted that the faces of reporters at press conferences and around the city hall were virtually all whites, and her decision would call attention to the overabundance of these Caucasian faces.
She explained that "I ran to break up the status quo that was failing so many........ It's a shame that in 2021, the City Hall press corps is overwhelmingly White in a city where more than half of the city identifies as Black, Latino, AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islanders) or Native American. Not many female journalists either, said Lightfoot, but her comments on the distaff representation was inaccurate since a good many women are in fact covering city hall.
Clarence Page, an African American Chicago Tribune columnist, said it was a "stunt" by Mayor Lightfoot to call attention to the lack of diversity in the journalist ranks. She was in effect misusing the moment, he opined, but should find better ways to focus attention on the lack of journalistic diversity--which he agrees is a problem.
Page was just being kind to Lightfoot whose conduct has revealed that she is what is called a "black racist," who has now "come out." The color of one's skin is what is important to Mayor Lightfoot. It defines a person. Ability and talent are just also rans. Lightfoot is the first lesbian mayor, and now she has exited the racial closet, and her degradation of whites is no longer hidden from the public.
Tucker Carlson, a popular Fox News pundit and political analyst, did not mince any words in dedicating a big part of an hour long commentary on the mayor and her identity-based judgments. She is a "racist and a lunatic,'' said Carlson. She is a "dangerous bigot," and that sort of conduct even contradicts state and federal laws.
One of Carlson's guests was Alderman Raymond Lopez, a Democratic member of the Chicago city council, and he asserted that Lightfoot is "incompetent" as mayor and draws the race card in the face of challenges to her often loony plans. In her two years, he said, Lightfoot has done nothing which has benefited Chicagoans.
Former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, from faraway Hawaii, a shining exception in the party of the jackasses who ran for President in 2020, was appalled at Lightfoot's racism. "It is abhorrent, and I call upon President Biden, Kamala Harris, and other leaders of our country—of all races—to join me in calling for Mayor Lightfoot’s resignation."
Lots of Chicagoans do not really care about Lightfoot's disdain for the overabundance of "white" faces in the City Hall press corps. Chicago is one of the most Democratic cities in the nation and I believe that it is a given that even loyal and liberal Democrats are questioning their allegiance to a mayor who is an out-and-out racist. We all wonder what the reaction would be if similar comments came from a white mayor who was disturbed because there were just too many faces "of color" at press conferences, and that she would be remedying the situation, by ignoring questions from the "of color" journalists. Someone call out the national guard!!
Chicago residents are more concerned about her fumbling failure to be a strong mayor than her concern over white faces in the press corp. Murders and car jackings, robberies and burglaries are all up under her watch. From Friday to Sunday of this past weekend, some 40 persons were shot, eight of them fatally.
Hey Mayor, never mind who is white and who is black, and do something about gunfire and death on city streets.
As a candidate, Lightfoot promised police reform, greater safety in the streets and elimination of the city's huge deficit. So far she hasn't delivered on anything. Currently, she is pushing an "historic ordinance" which will call for the creation of a data base which will reveal the records of misconduct by Chicago policemen, going back to the year 2000. In response, Jamie Kalven, whose "Invisible Institute" focuses upon accountability and transparency in government, said the Lightfoot "data base" is smoke and mirrors loaded with exceptions and as a package is worthless. With this ordinance, he added, "Lightfoot has utterly failed to honor the principle of transparency."
In April of last year, Lightfoot appointed David Brown as the city's new Police Superintendent. She said that Chief Brown has been widely praised for his reforms designed to reduce violent confrontations between police officers and the community and to increase the department's accountability and transparency.
He is a pro from Texas , said Lightfoot, and will bring more safety and tranquility to the streets. But last weekend's scary statistics, eight killed and 40 wounded in Garfield park, was pretty typical of what is happening every weekend on the south and west sides of the city. If Mayor Lightfoot is so concerned about people of color, why doesn't she do something about their dangerous and unsafe neighborhoods where bullets kill innocent and unsuspecting residents walking down the street in frightening numbers? It is not just the gang bangers who die, it is the families who live in these impoverished neighborhoods, and in many cases, young children and even toddlers.
Earlier this month, rank and file Chicago police officers in the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) voted a "no confidence" assessment of Mayor Lightfoot and Supt. Brown. New foot-pursuit rules for uniformed officers will only enforce its findings that Lightfoot and company are mentally wanting.
Chicago has become the poster city for crime and deaths by gunfire, and is mentioned as a bad example nationwide. Last year, President Trump even offered to send in the federal troops to Chicago to assist in quelling the shootings and criminal behavior which is occurring principally in African American neighborhoods. Lightfoot declined the President's offer and said that "racism is part of his political agenda." Editorially, the Chicago Tribune urged her to be more "collaborative" with the President of the United States.
If you lived in one of Chicago's rough neighborhoods, would you rather have a mayor who frets about the race of her interviewers, or a mayor who takes advantage of every opportunity, even drastic ones, to make her city safe for all citizens.
xxx
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