Darius Ricks
The opinions expressed in this article are that of the writer, and may not necessarily reflect those of Tatum Report LLC
In a tweet Wednesday, Chicago’s Democrat Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced that she will be granting one-on-one interviews to journalists of color from now on.
A white local news reporter, NBC5 Chicago reporter Mary Ann Ahern, attempted to get an exclusive with Lightfoot as her second mayoral anniversary approaches, only to find out that she was denied access because of her skin.
As @chicagosmayor reaches her two year midway point as mayor, her spokeswoman says Lightfoot is granting 1 on 1 interviews – only to Black or Brown journalists pic.twitter.com/PAUsacD9Gj
— Mary Ann Ahern (@MaryAnnAhernNBC) May 18, 2021
“As @chicagosmayor reaches her two year midway point as mayor, her spokeswoman says Lightfoot is granting 1 on 1 interviews – only to Black or Brown journalists,” Ahern pointed out.
Despite the increasingly high number of homicides or opioid deaths in the city of Chicago, Lightfoot seems to be more interested in the color of the reporters asking her questions. In addition, Lightfoot is the only openly gay elected official who is married to a white woman.
Instead of apologizing for the bizarre enforced racism toward reporters, Lightfoot instead took to Twitter to further explain her decision to discriminate against white people openly.
“Diversity and inclusion is imperative across all institutions including media. In order to progress we must change,” she argued on Twitter.
“This is exactly why I’m being intentional about prioritizing media requests from POC reporters on the occasion of the two-year anniversary of my inauguration as mayor of this great city.”
For years in America, we have condemned this kind of behavior, especially from our elected officials. Not only does this behavior increase racial animosity, but it proves that Mayor Lightfoot has no concerns for the problems within Chicago that are affecting the same minority she is gaslighting.
In response to Lightfoot’s decision to only interview a POC, Gregory Pratt, a Latino reporter for the Chicago Tribune, refused to interview her until she changes her policy.
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. https://t.co/YMW8M8ZgJm
— Gregory Pratt (@royalpratt) May 19, 2021
“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.” Pratt tweeted.
Nonetheless, Democratic politicians did not seem to have a problem with Lightfoot’s decision. In fact, D.C. Mayor, Muriel Bowser, decided to defend her controversial statement during a Thursday press conference.
“I think she decided to make a point on this anniversary that we need to see more beat reporters that look like the cities that they’re covering and that’s been a discussion that I’ve had with editors around this city – and we want to continue to urge them to hire people that reflect the city, and the city halls that they work in,” Bowser said.
In the statement, Lightfoot also described white reporters, especially white males, as a “burden.”
“It is too heavy a burden to bear, on top of all the other massive challenges our city faces in this moment, to also have to take on the labor of educating white, mostly male, media about…implicit bias…I don’t have time for it,” the statement said.
For many, with the recent actions of many on the left, it seems that history is repeating itself.
“I can't wait until black people lynch white people”
A person part of the #antifa black bloc at the protest against Billy Graham association event near Seattle shouted racist statements yesterday. They also chanted “death to America” & burned US flags. pic.twitter.com/Rlob8ynIlI
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) May 12, 2021
The hypocrisy of Mayor Lightfoot’s decision to selectively enforce racism toward one ethnicity group must be condemned by media outlets and cannot go unacknowledged. This behavior is incredibly immature and unacceptable conduct by our elected officials. One can only imagine what would happen if a white politician said that he refused to speak with any black journalists.
Combating racism with more racism is unbelievably moronic and leads to more animosity. It is also morally wrong.
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