Listen Live
St Jude banner
CLOSE

The miles some people go to help further the advancement of our own can be inspiring to say the least, but there are some occasions when you can be doing too much. That may or may not be the case for Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Sure, her new stipulation when it comes to interview requests — her spokeswoman says only Black and Brown journalists will be granted 1 on 1 interviews — does wonders for reporters of color and their editorial careers overall. However, a move like that also could potentially foster inequality based off the color of your skin. Or does it?

LIKE US ON FACEBOOK. FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM & TWITTER. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE.

“I am a Latino reporter @chicagotribune whose interview request was granted for today,” tweeted Chicago Tribune reporter Gregory Pratt in confirmation of the news a few days ago, further adding, “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.” His point alone makes the argument that, while respectable in its intention, deeming who’s rightful for anything based off the color of their skin and/or ethnic background opens up the door for others to do the same with much more nefarious plans in mind.

STAY INFORMED! CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER!

On the other hand, Lightfoot might know what she’s doing. Take a look at how NBC Chicago summed up a letter she sent out to Chi-Town-based media outlets:

In a letter emailed to Chicago media outlets, including NBC 5, Lightfoot – Chicago’s first Black female mayor and first openly gay mayor – said she wanted to “ensure” that members of the media understood her “thinking behind that decision.”

“In the time since I was elected, our country has faced an historic reckoning around systemic racism,” Lightfoot wrote, in a nod to the renewed racial justice movement sparked after a police officer murdered George Floyd in Minneapolis last May. “In looking at the absence of diversity across the City Hall press corps and other newsrooms, sadly it does not appear that many of the media institutions in Chicago have caught on and truly have not embraced this moment.”

Let us know if you think Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is in good standing to make a decision like this, or if you think she’ll just end up with her foot in her mouth.

READ MORE STORIES ON BLACKAMERICAWEB.COM:

HEAD TO THE BLACKAMERICAWEB.COM HOMEPAGE

Does Lori Lightfoot’s “Journalists Of Color Only” Interview Rule Hurt More Than It Helps?  was originally published on blackamericaweb.com