This is a word, a podcast from Slate. I'm your host, Jason Johnson.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot recently sparked a new skirmish in the culture war.

She decided to grant the only one-on-one interviews about her anniversary in office with non-white reporters.

We are a city that has almost three-quarters people of color.

I believe that the city hall press corps needs to reflect the diversity of our city.

So is this radical fairness, a political stunt, or both?

We'll dive in next on a word with me, Jason Johnson. Stay with us.

Welcome to a word, a podcast about race and politics and everything else. I'm your host, Jason Johnson.

Illinois politics and especially Chicago politics can be a rough business, where losers can get regularly dragged,

even all the way to prison, and winners can make it all the way to the White House.

The city has corruption problems, police problems, education problems, and in its last year a pandemic.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot has a lot to answer for as she marks her second anniversary in office.

But who Lightfoot decided she would answer to made national headlines?

Your office says that you invited Black and Brown journalists to this round of interview.

Why? I'm happy to vouch for Craig Wall, for Heather Sharon and others.

Well, look, I think in this one day, when we are looking at the two-year anniversary of my inauguration,

as a one-of-a-color, as a lesbian, it's important to me that diversity is put front and center.

There are some folks you've been feuding with, some of them my white colleague. Some people look at this as sort of a payback.

It has nothing to do with that. The facts are the facts. Look at the people who cover City Hall.

For more on this controversy, we're joined by veteran political journalist Aaron Haines.

She's editor at large and one of the founders of the 19th, the nonprofit news group focused on American women.

Aaron Haines joins us now. Welcome to a word.

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