Racism, Chicago style
Can you imagine this? The prime minister of Israel announces: “From here on out, only Jewish reporters will be allowed at my press conferences. No Arab reporters allowed, because, you know they just don’t understand. They don’t give me a fair shake.”
Or this? The president of the United States announces: “We’re going to put a stop to the unfair reporting that’s everywhere. From here on out, only white reporters will be allowed at my press conferences. They get it, the black reporters don’t.”
Or this? The superintendent of Denver Public Schools announces: “I need school principals who understand what true educational standards are, and can inspire students to attain them. From here on out, only graduates of Harvard, Yale and the other Ivy League schools will be principals in DPS. No graduate of CU or any other public university will be a principal in DPS.”
Or this? The General Manager of the Denver Nuggets announces: “I need players who perform at the highest level. It’s the only way we’ll succeed in the playoffs. From here on out, only black players will play for the Nuggets.”
As outrageous as these mythical scenarios are, they aren’t mythical —not in Chicago, anyway, not by analogy. Can you imagine this? The mayor of Chicago, Lori Lightfoot, announces that she will no longer do interviews with reporters who are white. Lightfoot, who is black, actually did announce, in writing:
“Iwill be exclusively providing one-on-one interviews with journalists of color.” Why? Because of the “overwhelming whiteness and maleness of Chicago media outlets, editorial boards, the political press corps, and yes, the City Hall press corps specifically.”
As if Lightfoot’s decision itself were not racist enough, she went further. She said that any critical coverage of City Hall under her administration is not due to anything she or her administration has ever done. Rather, it is due to the racism in the press corps. Needless to say, Lightfoot reminds us, racism in the press corps is “too heavy a burden to bear, on top of all the other massive challenges our city faces.”
Welcome back to a time in America when skin color was the criterion of treatment under the law and in every other arena of society. Except that then, the damnable color was black. Under Lightfoot, the damnable color is white. It’s the same racism, the same mentality, the same bigotry, the same baiting, the same rationalization, the same segregation.
Welcome to a time in Chicago now in which one of the anti-heroes of its current mayor must be Martin Luther King, Jr. He wanted to be judged by the content of his character and not by the color of his skin.
Not to mention:
• If, to Lightfoot, press coverage of her administration seems unfavorable, maybe there is a substantive reason. Maybe introspection is in order. Maybe reevaluation of policies is in order. Maybe if the message is bad — such as Chicago’s skyrocketing murder rate — the problem is in the policy that shapes the message, not in the messenger.
• If Lightfoot will discriminate on the basis of race, maybe she should remember that she is not a private citizen. She is a government representative, bound by the Constitution, which prohibits the government from enforcing unequal protection under the law.
Can you imagine an Israeli prime minister, an American president, a Denver school superintendent, a Nuggets general manager, or any other American in a position of authority pulling a Lori Lightfoot? We hope not. We hope she is an outlier. We hope she is not a sign of the times. We hope that her crude and explicit racism does not resonate with children of any color for whom a holder of high public office is often a role model.
We hope reporters of any color do not request a one-on-one interview with the racist mayor of Chicago.
Copyright © 2021 by the Intermountain Jewish News
