by Anika LeeVan
On May 20th, Lori Lightfoot will be sworn in as the democratic, 56th mayor of Chicago. Lori Lightfoot is the first African-American and openly gay mayor of Chicago.
Straight from Lightfoot herself on Lightfootforchicago.com, one of her priorities is to “respect the experiences of all Chicagoans and ensure our city government works to uplift the quality of life for everyone.”
Lightfoot has worked at the city and federal level to make government more accountable and accessible.
Lightfoot For Chicago Online also stated, “as mayor, she will work to create opportunity for every Chicagoan—regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, economic status, or neighborhood.”
While raising Lightfoot’s two of three siblings, her father became very ill and went into an almost year coma and woke with complete hearing loss. She said that seeing her father struggle with his disability has greatly impacted her views on social justice and equity.
Lightfoot was very academic as a child because her mother was always telling her to excel and not to use her race, gender, or economic status as an excuse for anything short of excellence.
She went to the University of Michigan and graduated with honors. Lightfoot paid for her college education herself. After, she got a full scholarship to the University of Chicago Law School.
Now, Lightfoot and her spouse live in Chicago with their 10-year-old daughter.
Lots of people, such as Kwynn Riley who wrote an article for The Grio about Lightfoot, thought she “represents everything but a progressive agenda.”
Riley said that Lightfoot “prioritizes the Chicago Police Department over communities in Chicago.” The article states the reasoning to this is because “she denied justice for Rekia Boyd, an unarmed, black women who was shot and killed by Dante Servin, a former Chicago Police detective.”
Other voters think that Lightfoot is progressive and is changing things for the better because she is the “first African-American woman and first openly gay person to serve as Chicago’s mayor,” as stated on The New York Times website.