EXCERPT:
LIGHTFOOT: “Well, the lawsuit is completely frivolous. I'd use a more colorful term if we weren’t on TV. But here’s the thing. I’m the mayor of the third-largest city in the country. I’m an African-American woman, to state the obvious. Every day when I look out across my podium, I don’t see people who look like me. But more to the point, I don’t see people who reflect the richness and diversity of this city. So, yes, I started a long overdue conversation about diversity in newsrooms, in coverage. You all are the mirrors on society. You reflect, with a critical and important lens, the news of the day. You hold public officials like me accountable. You must be diverse. It can’t be that in a city like Chicago, with all the talent that we have, that we can’t find diverse journalists of color. Of course we can. What they need is opportunity. And I hope my conversation has pricked the consciousness of the people who do the hiring decisions in media rooms all across the city and hopefully across the country. We’ve got to do better.”