Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Tuesday night that “about 99%” of the criticism she receives over her temperament is due to the fact she’s a Black woman.
The mayor made the comment during an interview on WTTW-Ch. 11 after being asked about questions people have raised over temperament and how she reacts to criticism. The mayor has been known to be tough on staff and confrontational with critics, contributing to significant staff turnover.
When asked how much of the criticism has to do with the fact she’s a Black woman, Lightfoot said, “About 99%.”
“Look at my predecessors. Did people say that Rich Daley held tea sessions with people that he (disagreed with)? Rahm Emanuel was a polite guy who was a uniter? No,” Lightfoot said. “Women and people of color are always held to a different standard. I understand that, I’ve known that my whole life.”
As Lightfoot approached her second anniversary last month, the Tribune and other outlets wrote about turnover in the mayor’s administration.
At least a dozen top people have resigned or said they’re on their way out since late last year. City Hall jobs are difficult even during normal circumstances, and the pressure intensified in the past year with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, followed by bouts of civil unrest. Some of the departures are part of the natural rhythm within a mayoral term, which Lightfoot alluded to during a spring news conference.
“This has been a very tough year, I think, on a lot of people,” she said in the spring. “We’re coming up to the two-year anniversary, and I think a lot of people are taking stock of where they are.”
Current and former Lightfoot advisers, however, complain that she doesn’t take advice and can be difficult to approach. Like her predecessor, Emanuel, Lightfoot is known to be profane and hard-charging with other elected officials, once telling aldermen “don’t come to me for s—” if they voted against her budget.
She can also be tough on her staff. Last May, Lightfoot emailed her chief of staff, her deputy mayor for economic development and scheduler a photo of ripped up documents.
Lightfoot also faced criticism for emailing her scheduler in January with complaints that she doesn’t get enough “office time.” In the note, Lightfoot repeated several sentences — one 16 times — to highlight her displeasure over her schedule.
Rounding out her answer on WTTW, Lightfoot acknowledged she can improve on the job but again connected the criticism.
“Can I do things differently and better? Of course. Life is a lifelong learning experience, I hope, for me and for others,” Lightfoot said. “But I absolutely understand that critics, some of them who are out there, are criticizing me cause they don’t like to see a woman assume power and forge ahead on an agenda that is about disrupting the status quo.”
In the interview, Lightfoot also reiterated her criticism of the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board and other opinion pages by saying they aren’t diverse enough. The Tribune Editorial Board, which operates separately from the newsroom, recently ran an opinion piece criticizing her “tendency toward the thin-skinned, the defensive, the short-tempered.”
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Do something about the crime in Chicago, or are you a true Socialist and need to back up the Progressive Socialist Democrat Party’s EXTREME AGENDAS. If you can not come up with solutions you need to step down.
It is NOT because you are Black, get over yourself, you are just CRAZY and INCOMPETENT !
“Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Tuesday night that “about 99%” of the criticism she receives over her temperament is due to the fact she’s a Black woman.”
“Judge not by the color of one’s skin, but by the content of their character.”
Mayor Lori Lightfoot you HAVE been judged by your character and condemned by your character.
The mayor of Chicago may not know what sex the. Mayor is but the Mayor, being a Black person, Knew how to use. The race Card
ITS Because she is an incompetent hack demon-rat, THAT SHE WILL NEVER DO anything about the crime
Whether your black, white, brown, green, blue or whatever color you are- incompetence and stupidity still shines through. They ALWAYS play the poor me woman, colored racist card to hide their complete incompetence. An idiot will always be an idiot and CAN’T do the job and eventually people will see you are an idiot the more you open up your ignorant racist trap.
OMG seriously, stick your foot in your mouth and use the race card for everything you screw up? We’re HUMAN, that’s it.. get over yourself and do your dam JOB!
she is black?
i thought she was a ghoul!
Throwing the gender/race card is the GO TO TACTIC of the left.. Has been for over 40 years.
I am. Not amazed that mayor Lightfoot has had more problems since she became Mayor of Chicago. It’s not enough that she had to handle all of the duties of. Mayor but if character’sthought a task MayorLightfoot had to Solve thrusters of what SexteMayorWas…
“The mayor has been known to be tough on staff and confrontational with critics…”
It’s predictable that she is extra “bossy”. Uncertainty about her own identity makes her feel she needs to be on constant offense on every level. She also probably feels compelled to take the position opposite of logic…because logic presents obvious problems (being the dominion of privileged, white males).
“…some of them who are out there, are criticizing me cause they don’t like to see a woman assume power and forge ahead on an agenda that is about disrupting the status quo.”
Assume power? I thought you were duly elected by your constituents? But then, we’re talking Chicago. Most likely you were not honestly “elected”.
Not that Black women don’t have temperaments—a good number of them love to get in your face shaking their finger and raising their voice—but Ms Lighthead, I think you earned this one.
ANd most do it, over the SLIGHTEST thing.. EVEN STUFF that the person they are in the face of, GOT RIGHT.
Not MS Lightfoot, it is Mrs. Lightfoot after all the Supreme Court said she has a valid marriage.
Ya, she’s something else, alright. When all else fails, play the race card. Oh pullllleeeze! She’s terrible for Chicago. Wake up, people!
Yes, we have learned over time that the “race card” is the first indication that the person playing it has no valid argument. Let her argue that any of the criticism she has received is not founded in fact and the result of her abuse of power.
And are we even sure “she” is a woman?
She identifies as lesbian. So, she isn’t even sure she’s a woman.
Unfortunately, we’ve seen the dunce voters, in chi-raq, vote in a DEM MAYOR for over 60 straight years. i HIGHLY DOUBT they will ever “Wake up”..
My experience, is that women of color are always angry particularly to men whether black or white.
IMO that’s because they often get CODDLED BY other men, if anyone they get in the face of, ever tries to ‘strike back’.
No, the criticism is not about race or sex, it’s about being an incompetent administrator of a great American city that is being torn apart from the top down because of radical liberal policies that never worked and aren’t working now!
TO me its a large part of it.. BECAUSE I have yet to see a single black female EVER, who has been a GOOD LEADER..
HECK most blacks or females in charge in US cities, are NOT Good leaders, they are total and utterly worthless.
No, mayor…
People CRITICIZE you, because you are a HORRIBLE, HYPOCRITICAL mayor (and, apparently, a RUDE human being)!
Your RACE, GENDER and Sexual Orientation have NOTHING to do with it!
Mayor Light foot can, and do whatever the Mayor wants to say Th is Mayor has all the excuses to cover the Mayors AS* Ater all, # 1,_Shhe Appears to be Female, The feminists Wil defend the Maykor. # 2. The Mayor is an Black Minority. # 3 and the Mayor is a Transgender, any Questions?
…and 101% because she’s ambulatory excrement. Candace Owens is a STRAIGHT, BLACK WOMAN and she’s loved by approximately 75 million AMERICAN PATRIOTS who cherish and defend the Constitution. If you’d like some whine with your cheese call Me-me-mechelle Antoinette out at Martha’s Vineyard and you po’ po’ gals can have a pity party.
HEY lightweight! You are NOT being criticized because you are a black woman. The criticism comes from the fact that you have proven you are INCOMPETENT AND because you are a blatant RACIST! Do something to stop the daily murders in your city, do something worthwhile for your citizens, stop whining and calling others racists, get off your pity pot and BE A REAL MAYOR!
I judge people for what they do or do not do but in your cause I judge you as an idiot cause of your dodo and not your notdo.
True, Lori, and today, you and, as you say, ‘your people,’ are held to a much more relaxed standard than are whites. And you’re taking full advantage of that by continuing to play the victim in the full knowledge that you won’t be called out for it.
And unfortunately, as history has proven, she’s LIKELY RIGHT in that assumption.
NOPE!!! WRONG!!! It’s because you’re ugly & stupid!!!
Wrong again Bettlejuice, it’s because you’re over your head, you reached your Peter Principle way too long before becoming mayor. You’re a TOOL…
A diabetic in charge of the candy store . . . an alcoholic in charge of the liquor store . . a pedophile running a school … . and now a black radical lesbian who hates whites in charge of Chicago . Gee, I wonder where all of this is going . . . .
Well seeing the stats on just HOW MANY KIDS have been shot (and killed) JUST THIS YEAR alone, in chi-raq, its certainly not looking good for positive population growth!
GEES, ! You have. Brought a whole new aspect to Just how to evaluate the Mayor of Chicago on and all the issues are valid in considering Mayor Lightfoot. This new mayor is a mysteries to the Mayo it’s self.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot, In our photography business we meet many intellectually capable and wonderful black women who could do your job easily, and I’m a white guy. You madam are neither, you are an idiot, elected by unlearned idiots!