Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Wednesday WTTW’s “Chicago Tonight” that 99% of her critics were attacking her because of her gender and her race.
Anchor Phil Ponce asked, “Mayor, in recent months, there have been questions have been raised about your temperament and your reaction to criticisms. A Tribune editorial used the term irascible. How much of this do you think might have to do with the fact that you are your a woman and specifically a black woman?”
Lightfoot responded, “About 99% of it.”
Ponce said, “Expand on that.”
Lightfoot said, “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’ve known that my whole life. The Tribune or whoever can write what they want. What I am doing is fighting for the residence of this city.”
She continued, “I was elected and ran on disrupting the status quo. When you disrupt the status quo, you are going to make people uncomfortable you are going to have people criticize you.”
She added, “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.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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