Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Wednesday that “about 99%” of the criticism she faces is because she‘s a Black woman.
During an appearance on WTTW, Ms. Lightfoot, a Democrat who has experienced a rocky first two years in office, was asked how much of the criticism she has received had to do with the fact that she‘s “a woman, and specifically a Black woman.”
“About 99% of it,” Ms. Lightfoot responded, according to a clip shared by Grabien founder Tom Elliott. “Look at my predecessors. Did people say that Rich Daley held tea sessions with people that he didn’t disagree on? Rahm Emanuel was a polite guy who was a uniter? No.
“Women and people of color are always held to a different standard. I understand that. I’ve known that my whole life,” she continued.
“I absolutely understand that the critics, some of them who are out there, are criticizing me because they don’t like to see a woman assume power and forge ahead on an agenda that is about disrupting the status quo,” she added.
Chicago’s 20th Ward Alderwoman Jeanette Taylor, a Black woman who has butted heads with Ms. Lightfoot, said the mayor’s claims are a “cop-out,” Fox 32 reported.
“The same way that I challenged her, I’ve challenged Rahm and I’ve challenged Daley. And I was a community organizer then. That’s not true. That’s the cop-out,” she said. “At the end of the day, it’s her responsibility and duty as our co-worker to pull us together and have us figure out plans that work for our community.”
Ms. Lightfoot made her comments in responding to a Chicago Tribune editorial that slammed her as “defensive” and “irascible.”
The mayor said she wasn’t surprised the comments were coming from the Tribune, which she said acted like “the sky was falling” after she said in May that she was temporarily giving interviews only to journalists of color.
“Consider the source,” she said Wednesday. “Look around, look at that Tribune editorial board. Look at the editorial boards of most of the big media companies here in the city. They do not reflect our diversity.”
Ms. Lightfoot sparked a firestorm after she confirmed rumors on May 19 that she was “prioritizing media requests” from Black and brown reporters in an effort to “break up the status quo.”
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