Posted on 10/13/2022 5:10:47 PM PDT by simpson96
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Parades are known for drawing crowds, and with them, politicians looking for exposure and potential votes. But in this election season, they were few and far between at Chicago's 70th annual Columbus Day parade.
"You have parades that have become very controversial for a variety of political reasons and politicians don't want to alienate any part of a constituency, especially a large part of the constituency," said Laura Washington, ABC7 Political Analyst.
Columbus Day is among them. The controversy is tied to protests about the treatment of indigenous people that led to Mayor Lightfoot to order Columbus statues removed.
For parade organizers, there was a sense of disappointment with those politicians who were not there - particularly if it's out of concern about the controversy.
"Any elected official who's not here today, I feel bad for them because they're not really standing up for people they're standing up for themselves," said Ron Onesti, president of the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans.
"If that's why they're staying away, then they're cowards, that's what I would say," 38th Ward Ald. Nick Sposato said.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who most recently attended the Bud Billiken Parade, was unavailable Monday, her campaign said.
Governor JB Pritzker, who marched in the same parade along with numerous others this year, had a scheduling conflict.
(Excerpt) Read more at abc7chicago.com ...
I wasn’t aware that Chicago had a large current native American population who might be offended, but I guess other POC might find reasons to blame Mr. Columbus himself for the bad behavior of all those other folks that followed in his footsteps, starting with the African Tribal chieftains who sold fellow Africans as slaves to the Arab human traffickers who in turn sold them to Europeans, etc. I recall there was an American Indian Center in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago, but not sure there was a huge tribe gathering there regularly, or not. Most of the Native Americans in the Illinois area were sent to Oklahoma along with dozens of other tribes, unfairly of course. Leave it up to the Democrat leadership to play dodge ball with their constituents, especially in this crucial election year. Nothing much changes in Chicago, as it continues to circle to bowl.
Pritzker and Lightfoot own Chicago and they can do what they want.
“ politicians don’t want to alienate any part of a constituency, especially a large part of the constituency,”
So they alienated the Italian community in Chicago.
Talk about stupid.
L
Darn, I was hoping to see Pritzker make an appearance as a parade float.
They we’re busy having lunch with their boss, the mafia’s Don.
There are 4 blue stars on the Chicago flag. One of them used to represent the Fort Dearborn Massacre; now it represents Fort Dearborn. The stars are supposed to represent significant milestones in Chicago history.
If it weren’t for Columbus, Lightfoot would still be living in Africa and not in Chicago. Things would be very different.
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