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The next mayor of Chicago will be a black woman. A first for the third city of the United States.
On Tuesday, April 2, the second round of municipal elections in Chicago will pit Lori Lightfoot, 56, with Toni Preckwinkle, 71, two women from the African-American community. The woman will succeed Rahm Emanuel, the outgoing mayor and former chief of staff of Barack Obama who did not run again. Interview with Andrew Diamond, American academic, professor of American history and civilization at Paris-Sorbonne University and author of Chicago on the Make: Power and Inequality in a Modern City (University of California Press, 2017).
RFI: Who are these two women, Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle?
Andrew Diamond: Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle have in common to try to portray themselves as outsiders while they both have strong ties to the local political system. Toni Preckwinkle is the President of the Cook County Council and as such plays an important role, especially in the decisions concerning the finances of the city of Chicago.
Lori Lightfoot was appointed in 2002 by Richard Daley (Chicago Democrat Mayor, 1955-1976), the chief administrator of the Chicago Police Office who oversees ethical compliance. In 2015, outgoing mayor Rahm Emanuel entrusted him with the supervision of a working group on law enforcement methods (after the murder of Laquan McDonald, a black teenager killed by a white policeman). Lori Lightfoot has also served as Attorney General, Associate Attorney at the prestigious Mayer Brown Law Firm.
During the election campaign, the question of its authenticity arose, because in Chicago, there is currently a desire to overthrow the old order. Progressive forces are very active. It was the decision of Rahm Emanuel, the outgoing mayor, to close 50 schools in the city that woke them up, causing, seven years ago, a very serious political crisis which resulted, in a way, in tip the city further to the left. These two candidates have been carried by this wave.
Does the presence of these two black women reflect an evolution of Chicago?
Chicago has already had a woman mayor (Jane Byrne in 1979), so it will not be the first woman, but it will be the first black woman and it is significant and revealing. On the other hand, if Lori Lighfoot wins, as the polls suggest, she will become the first black and openly homosexual mayor, while the establishment is dominated by what I would call a club of old gentlemen. So yes, it's a major step forward.
Is this symptomatic of a greater political mobilization of women in the African-American community?
In recent years, there has been a major political movement in favor of defending the public schools of the city, the education system. In 2012, the teachers' strike in schools was accompanied by an important mobilization of women, especially African-Americans, who were at the forefront of the protest against the closure of schools under the mandate of Rahm Emmanuel. The presence of these two candidates is therefore the logical consequence of the remarkable mobilization of African-American women that has marked the political life of Chicago in recent years.
In the past, the city of Chicago saw the emergence of black leaders such as Barack Obama or Jesse Jackson. Do we register in the same dynamic?
I personally feel that the connection between Jesse Jackson and Chicago is a bit forgotten. Everyone remembers, however, the election in 1983 of Chicago's first black mayor, Harold Washington, who held the position until 1987, when he succumbed to a heart attack. This period was truly an important moment in Chicago's history. People still remember the mobilization that made this victory come true.
The irony around this election is that there was at that time a political machine long established in Chicago. Harold Washington was not totally an outsider, but he challenged the system in place and found himself able to beat in the Democratic primary, Richard Daley (son of Richard J. Daley who had been mayor of Chicago for 21 years) and outgoing Mayor Jane Byrne.
In the current election, as no one naturally won, nominations have emerged, including that of Lori Lightfoot, who has sprung from nowhere, to become the favorite.
Is the vote of the African-American community acquired?
What should be noted is that in the first round, the one that aroused the interest of the black community is Willy Wilson, an African-American businessman, and not Lori Lightfoot or Toni Preckwinkle. For the second round, Lori Lightfoot is in the lead, but as the outcome of the election is known, it is assumed that the future mayor will be a black woman, this could result in a low rate of community participation Afro-American.
What will be the priorities of the new mayor?
Both candidates promise reforms. That's the key word in Chicago right now. Both stress the need to find new ways to finance schools, create jobs, revitalize African-American neighborhoods that have become poorer because of lack of investment. Chicago has seen the number of its inhabitants drop in recent decades and it is a major problem for the city. This is partly explained by the rate of incarceration and the fact that the African-American community receives less and less public funding.
The real challenge today, then, is to ensure that these populations receive the subsidies to which they are entitled. Chicago has a very complex financial aid allocation system which means that the downtown shopping and neighboring neighborhoods, where gentrification is fast, are the main beneficiaries of local taxes while in African American neighborhoods, most people live in difficulty.
This suffering is visible in the streets of these neighborhoods, where the authorities make the choice to practice very brutal policing. That is why the other challenge, put forward by both candidates, is the need to improve relations between the police and the African-American community, to try to bring down the high rate of incarceration and the number of of homicides in this community.