Some Chicagoans are beginning to wonder who Mayor Lori Lightfoot really is. The person they thought they elected a year and a half ago never would have done what she apparently tried to do to Anjanette Young.
Our mayor is more compassionate. She is too smart to fall into the same trap that forced her predecessor out of Chicago politics. She is open, honest and dedicated to undoing the wrongs that have been done to Chicago residents.
Or so they hoped.
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It is troubling enough to watch the video of Young standing naked and handcuffed in front of a group of male police officers, who burst into her apartment that night and accused her of a crime she knew nothing about.
It is disgraceful that the city’s Law Department made an emergency filing in court to try and stop the video from airing on TV. And it is reprehensible that the mayor initially wanted a judge to sanction Young for publicizing the ordeal.
This was one of the most degrading, traumatic incidents imaginable, yet Young bravely chose to make it public. The mayor, on the other hand, was a coward. She apparently thought it would be best if Young continued to suffer in silence.
Young deserved better from the mayor. Women deserve better from another woman. Black women deserve better from a Black woman. All Chicagoans deserve better than that.
Lightfoot apologized to Young on Wednesday, saying, “What you experienced should never have happened, period.”
But it is not enough. Too much damage has been done by Lightfoot’s early attempt to sidestep the issue by simply saying that the raid didn’t happen on her watch. Too much pain was caused by Lightfoot’s refusal to condemn efforts by lawyers who work on the mayor’s behalf to silence Young.
Lightfoot declined to comment on Tuesday when reporters asked whether she supported sanctions against Young for violating a prior confidentiality order regarding the raid.
Lightfoot responded, “It’s for that judge to determine whether or not that was appropriate.” We’ll take that as a yes.
Amid the angry public fallout, Lightfoot is seeking to distance herself from the controversy. She insists that she first learned about the video this week. The incident happened in February 2019, three months before Lightfoot took office.
If Lightfoot didn’t know, she should have known that this explosive video was lurking around in her mayoral stratosphere for 19 months. No conscientious public official would allow herself to be caught off guard about such an emotionally volatile event that could end up toppling her administration.
She also says she didn’t know that her Law Department was in federal court Monday seeking to bar WBBM-Ch. 2 from airing the video. If that’s the case, we must also wonder what else is going on right under her nose that she doesn’t know about.
Saying that she was unaware does not make her less culpable. It does not shield her from the anger and disappoint that so many Chicagoans are feeling right now.
It does not make her any more trustworthy than then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel when he tried to block the video of Laquan McDonald’s murder from being released.
Nor does her apology free her of responsibility for the events following the raid. Her redemption will be determined by what she does next.
It does not matter that she had a “very emotional reaction” to the video. It doesn’t make Chicagoans feel any better that the city is no longer seeking sanctions against Young and has now turned the effort solely toward her attorney.
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Women who watched that video of Young standing naked in her living room, telling police 43 times that they were raiding the wrong place, felt as though they were kindred spirits.
We don’t care that the mayor thinks she “could have easily been Ms. Young.” It doesn’t matter that Lightfoot feels as though she could put herself in Young’s place. Most women could.
The only thing Lightfoot can do to restore our confidence is to take every step to make sure that such a thing never happens again in Chicago. Barring that, she must prove that if it does, the officers will be held accountable.
She must start with the officers responsible for that botched raid at Young’s apartment. At the very least, someone should be reprimanded, if not fired.
Lightfoot must demand that on her watch, women of all races be treated with the same dignity and respect. She must make sure that police officers are clear on where the city stands — and that she will be the toughest enforcer they could encounter.
Anyone can make a mistake, but the true character and strength of a leader is determined by how far he or she is willing to go to make amends.
Twitter @dahleeng