“Unsurprisingly, Lightfoot’s consequent identification of “systemic racism” as the cause of these disparities provoked derision among her critics. The city, after all, is governed by a black mayor with an almost entirely Democratic city council, where the majority of aldermen are black or Hispanic. At the state and federal level, Chicago is represented by a group of multi-racial, left-of-centre politicians. The city even has the longest, unbroken tradition of black political representation of anywhere in the United States.”
Lightfoot’s just accidentally saying the quiet part out loud, stupidly thinking what she said was an insult to her opponents rather than just an honest appraisal of her own side. All of these Democrat / Left led organisations are plausibly (definitely?) racist. At the least they discriminate based on race (to their minds this is acceptable because they target the correct oppressor races) and by the Democrats own Critical Race Theory “logic” the Democrat policy’s harm black people so they are de facto racists, obviously they don’t actually apply their own logic to themselves, as Lightfoot accusation highlights, when the Democrats harm black people the nebulous and conveniently unaccountable system is responsible for it, even when that system is comprised of black Democrats.
Black conservatives like Thomas Sowell and Clarence Thomas would certainly agree that the policies pursued by.progressives harm blacks.
Democrats want blacks to be beholden. They want to be the Patronus to the black cliens. The system that worked well for the classical Roman Senators.
Chris Wheatley
2 years ago
Many (black) commentators have said that the problems with black people in America cannot be resolved by white people, that racism persists in a more virulent form when white people suggest giving things to black people to try and even things up.
Trump-supporter Candace Owens has said clearly in her book and tv programme that the problems suffered by black people can only be solved by black people, by working harder towards a solution instead of waiting for handouts from Congress. To me this is obvious but I am obviously not wise enough.
On a more trivial basis, in UK football Wilfred Zaha refuses to ‘take the knee’ because it is demeaning for black people and I agree.
James Joyce
2 years ago
Utter academic tosh! Many questionable facts presented.
Chicago is a massively failed city in a failed state–Democratically controlled for decades if not longer. The filthy, vile, disgusting mayor is merely a poverty pimp, using her position to gain “reparations” for blacks, which is how many view the crime wave in Chicago and many other cities. The raison detre for many politicians–white and black–but certainly LL–is to take from whites and give to blacks.
No wonder bi-racial Obama supposedly came from Chicago, despite his Hawaiian and Indonesian upbringing. Funny how some are bi-racial, but Barrack Hussein Obama was “black” and African-American, and also a Christian. What a scam!
David Nebeský
2 years ago
I still don’t get it. How did the local policies described in the article cause the spread of HIV among blacks?
Racism. The answer is always and only racism. if you cant see how that’s because you haven’t looked hard enough for it. It’s not up to them to do the work of explaining how either, even asking for an explanation is in itself racist. If you don’t accept it, unquestionably, then that is also racist.
To paraphrase the old woman, it’s turtles racism all the way down.
Last edited 2 years ago by George Glashan
Ethniciodo Rodenydo
2 years ago
“The city, after all, is governed by a black mayor with an almost entirely Democratic city council, where the majority of aldermen are black or Hispanic”. Yet only 30% of the population is black. How is this possible?
Presumably because a lot of white people aren’t racist but are happy to support stupid policies. If all the whites were racist they would vote out the black politicians whatever policies they introduced.
Chicago is approximately 1/3 black, 1/3 Hispanic, and 1/3 white, so very possible. Also, the current mayor was elected as an outsider and a reformer, and had support from a multi-ethnic coalition.
I think this article is a good synopsis of black political power in Chicago, and how representation has not necessarily translated to reform. But Chicago is NOT an easy city to govern — lots of turf wars, politically. Lori Lightfoot would have had a tough time regardless, but with COVID and increased crime, she’s simply in way over her head, in my opinion.
The current mayor of Chicago was allowed to be elected — no one of any status in the Democratic Party ran to succeed Rahm Emanuel in that high-profile position, and Lightfoot’s black female opponent was as undistinguished as she was.
The reason was because Chicago’s financial house of cards was about to come a-cropper after years of horrible municipal policies, graft, over-promising and profligacy. Chicago’s elders figured who better to be the fall guy than a black lesbian of no ability, unconnected to the old regime. They would just get out of the way and pretend to be bystanders.
A booming economy and then a lot of Covid-panic borrowed money flushed to the cities and states has helped stave off disaster temporarily. Lightfoot’s stewardship of public safety, however, cannot be hidden, so that’s the incompetence people see.
So you mean that in any city in the UK which has a large ethnic population both political parties have to put up an ethnic candidate in order to stand a chance but it is OK for the parties to parachute ethnic candidates into white constituencies safe in the knowledge that the candidates ethnicity will not count against them.
Glad you cleared this up
Where did you thing Rishi Sunak has a greater chance of being elected – a working class white region full of supposed “racists” or a constituency full of muslims and blacks.
I am Indian origin. In a country that’s 85% white, I have faced or heard of zero racism towards Indians from whites, and multiple incidents from blacks / muslims
The reason is that Chicago is about 85% democrat. It’s all part of a machine, like the author mentions. The white business leaders, and the black political leaders all feed in the same trough.
It’s interesting that the author didn’t mention the abysmal murder rate in Chicago for blacks, which are virtually all committed by other blacks. That is the main reason for the low life expectancy in those neighborhoods. Chicago has been the distribution hub for heroine in the U.S. for a while now. But no one talks about it.
Chris Mochan
2 years ago
“create community-based stakeholder coalitions to develop targeted strategies to improve community and individual wellness”. These may be warm words,
I wouldn’t say warm words. More like meaningless words disguised as ‘doing something’.
Cathy Carron
2 years ago
Chicago’s financial problems stem from the excessive burden of its pension fund – the second highest in the nation (CT is #1). Illinois politicians have been kicking this can down the road for decades not tackling it head on. Until this ball & chain of a financial burden is addressed Chicago is going nowhere.
It won’t be addressed. The pension fund will go bankrupt and Chicago will go on its hands and knees to Washington for a bailout.
Lightfoot was allowed to become the mayor to take that fall.
Better that nobody who at least has a lot of diversity Pokémon points than those who were actually responsible.
Warren T
2 years ago
As someone who grew up on the streets of Brooklyn, NY and a Chicago area resident for 20 years, I’ve seen social project after project built for inner city poor folks, who were predominately black. In each and every case, the housing development, along with all the tangential projects, like parks and special enterprise zones, have been abandoned due to the residents destroying them. Over and over again. The cycle never ends.
Always seems to be the case if an individual demands ‘help’ from outside rather than ‘internally’ ie self help is what gets things done vs handouts. Humans have a strong tendency towards passivity’ laziness’ and violence – why are these factors not accepted ??? Once the R word is used as a cop out all is doomed – so obvious, so stuck – is it any wonder that people who can just move out because there is no other option because nothing meaningful CAN happen in this climate.!
Correct. That is the huge missing question and subsequent knee jerk assumption of this guy’s article.
When blacks moved into solid old Chicago neighborhoods and took them over as the whites fled (for some reason), why didn’t the property values increase?
Why didn’t the new black neighborhoods become magnets for commerce, drawing in people from the surrounding areas to partake and enjoy the new restaurants and attractions of the rejuvenated stores and public spaces?
Why didn’t white families try to get their kids enrolled in the new majority black schools that were fast becoming educational vanguards?
Why didn’t movie theaters and other retail businesses expand into the inner-cities to exploit the new clientele there?
And why instead is it immediately and tacitly assumed that when blacks move in, neighborhoods deteriorate and need “white money” to survive? — not prosper, survive.
You know, you know…
D Hockley
2 years ago
If you want to see real mortality rates, education levels and general living conditions of black populations that live without white intervention, go and look at Africa.
when you have the data, come back to me and let’s talk.
There is no paradox. Black people have, by and large, shown a complete inability to govern themselves. Pick a city, county, or country. If it is run by blacks it is in complete disarray. But, you know, when you have a population that is educated by these black run systems there will never be any real change. That’s why white people don’t live in urban areas….until they have been completely gentrified.
Christopher Barclay
2 years ago
There is nothing inevitable about house prices falling. You just need to make the people living in inner city neighbourhoods high earners. That starts with education.
very informative article, theres one thing though
Lightfoot’s just accidentally saying the quiet part out loud, stupidly thinking what she said was an insult to her opponents rather than just an honest appraisal of her own side. All of these Democrat / Left led organisations are plausibly (definitely?) racist. At the least they discriminate based on race (to their minds this is acceptable because they target the correct oppressor races) and by the Democrats own Critical Race Theory “logic” the Democrat policy’s harm black people so they are de facto racists, obviously they don’t actually apply their own logic to themselves, as Lightfoot accusation highlights, when the Democrats harm black people the nebulous and conveniently unaccountable system is responsible for it, even when that system is comprised of black Democrats.
Black conservatives like Thomas Sowell and Clarence Thomas would certainly agree that the policies pursued by.progressives harm blacks.
Democrats want blacks to be beholden. They want to be the Patronus to the black cliens. The system that worked well for the classical Roman Senators.
Many (black) commentators have said that the problems with black people in America cannot be resolved by white people, that racism persists in a more virulent form when white people suggest giving things to black people to try and even things up.
Trump-supporter Candace Owens has said clearly in her book and tv programme that the problems suffered by black people can only be solved by black people, by working harder towards a solution instead of waiting for handouts from Congress. To me this is obvious but I am obviously not wise enough.
On a more trivial basis, in UK football Wilfred Zaha refuses to ‘take the knee’ because it is demeaning for black people and I agree.
Utter academic tosh! Many questionable facts presented.
Chicago is a massively failed city in a failed state–Democratically controlled for decades if not longer. The filthy, vile, disgusting mayor is merely a poverty pimp, using her position to gain “reparations” for blacks, which is how many view the crime wave in Chicago and many other cities. The raison detre for many politicians–white and black–but certainly LL–is to take from whites and give to blacks.
No wonder bi-racial Obama supposedly came from Chicago, despite his Hawaiian and Indonesian upbringing. Funny how some are bi-racial, but Barrack Hussein Obama was “black” and African-American, and also a Christian. What a scam!
I still don’t get it. How did the local policies described in the article cause the spread of HIV among blacks?
Racism. The answer is always and only racism. if you cant see how that’s because you haven’t looked hard enough for it. It’s not up to them to do the work of explaining how either, even asking for an explanation is in itself racist. If you don’t accept it, unquestionably, then that is also racist.
To paraphrase the old woman, it’s
turtlesracism all the way down.“The city, after all, is governed by a black mayor with an almost entirely Democratic city council, where the majority of aldermen are black or Hispanic”.
Yet only 30% of the population is black. How is this possible?
Presumably because a lot of white people aren’t racist but are happy to support stupid policies. If all the whites were racist they would vote out the black politicians whatever policies they introduced.
Chicago is approximately 1/3 black, 1/3 Hispanic, and 1/3 white, so very possible. Also, the current mayor was elected as an outsider and a reformer, and had support from a multi-ethnic coalition.
I think this article is a good synopsis of black political power in Chicago, and how representation has not necessarily translated to reform. But Chicago is NOT an easy city to govern — lots of turf wars, politically. Lori Lightfoot would have had a tough time regardless, but with COVID and increased crime, she’s simply in way over her head, in my opinion.
The current mayor of Chicago was allowed to be elected — no one of any status in the Democratic Party ran to succeed Rahm Emanuel in that high-profile position, and Lightfoot’s black female opponent was as undistinguished as she was.
The reason was because Chicago’s financial house of cards was about to come a-cropper after years of horrible municipal policies, graft, over-promising and profligacy. Chicago’s elders figured who better to be the fall guy than a black lesbian of no ability, unconnected to the old regime. They would just get out of the way and pretend to be bystanders.
A booming economy and then a lot of Covid-panic borrowed money flushed to the cities and states has helped stave off disaster temporarily. Lightfoot’s stewardship of public safety, however, cannot be hidden, so that’s the incompetence people see.
But once those fake dollars run out, look out!
Because black people are racists who will vote for black candidates from the party they consider to be black.
While White people are not racist and vote across parties
Similar for muslims / blacks and Labour, if not for their block votes Labour would be in far worse state
So you mean that in any city in the UK which has a large ethnic population both political parties have to put up an ethnic candidate in order to stand a chance but it is OK for the parties to parachute ethnic candidates into white constituencies safe in the knowledge that the candidates ethnicity will not count against them.
Glad you cleared this up
Where did you thing Rishi Sunak has a greater chance of being elected – a working class white region full of supposed “racists” or a constituency full of muslims and blacks.
I am Indian origin. In a country that’s 85% white, I have faced or heard of zero racism towards Indians from whites, and multiple incidents from blacks / muslims
The reason is that Chicago is about 85% democrat. It’s all part of a machine, like the author mentions. The white business leaders, and the black political leaders all feed in the same trough.
It’s interesting that the author didn’t mention the abysmal murder rate in Chicago for blacks, which are virtually all committed by other blacks. That is the main reason for the low life expectancy in those neighborhoods. Chicago has been the distribution hub for heroine in the U.S. for a while now. But no one talks about it.
I wouldn’t say warm words. More like meaningless words disguised as ‘doing something’.
Chicago’s financial problems stem from the excessive burden of its pension fund – the second highest in the nation (CT is #1). Illinois politicians have been kicking this can down the road for decades not tackling it head on. Until this ball & chain of a financial burden is addressed Chicago is going nowhere.
It won’t be addressed. The pension fund will go bankrupt and Chicago will go on its hands and knees to Washington for a bailout.
Lightfoot was allowed to become the mayor to take that fall.
Better that nobody who at least has a lot of diversity Pokémon points than those who were actually responsible.
As someone who grew up on the streets of Brooklyn, NY and a Chicago area resident for 20 years, I’ve seen social project after project built for inner city poor folks, who were predominately black. In each and every case, the housing development, along with all the tangential projects, like parks and special enterprise zones, have been abandoned due to the residents destroying them. Over and over again. The cycle never ends.
Always seems to be the case if an individual demands ‘help’ from outside rather than ‘internally’ ie self help is what gets things done vs handouts. Humans have a strong tendency towards passivity’ laziness’ and violence – why are these factors not accepted ??? Once the R word is used as a cop out all is doomed – so obvious, so stuck – is it any wonder that people who can just move out because there is no other option because nothing meaningful CAN happen in this climate.!
Correct. That is the huge missing question and subsequent knee jerk assumption of this guy’s article.
When blacks moved into solid old Chicago neighborhoods and took them over as the whites fled (for some reason), why didn’t the property values increase?
Why didn’t the new black neighborhoods become magnets for commerce, drawing in people from the surrounding areas to partake and enjoy the new restaurants and attractions of the rejuvenated stores and public spaces?
Why didn’t white families try to get their kids enrolled in the new majority black schools that were fast becoming educational vanguards?
Why didn’t movie theaters and other retail businesses expand into the inner-cities to exploit the new clientele there?
And why instead is it immediately and tacitly assumed that when blacks move in, neighborhoods deteriorate and need “white money” to survive? — not prosper, survive.
You know, you know…
If you want to see real mortality rates, education levels and general living conditions of black populations that live without white intervention, go and look at Africa.
when you have the data, come back to me and let’s talk.
Love those “informal settlements.”
There is no paradox. Black people have, by and large, shown a complete inability to govern themselves. Pick a city, county, or country. If it is run by blacks it is in complete disarray. But, you know, when you have a population that is educated by these black run systems there will never be any real change. That’s why white people don’t live in urban areas….until they have been completely gentrified.
There is nothing inevitable about house prices falling. You just need to make the people living in inner city neighbourhoods high earners. That starts with education.