Thread by @TimJY

#LoriLightfoot is hot on my TL right now, so I thought I'd share what I just posted in a neighborhood group on *that other* site. (A thread)

In addition to her loyalty to "law and order," policing, carceral logics, and treatment of protesters and other uprising participants, which activists who had testified before the Police Board under her leadership warned us about, here are a few of the things that I have observed

1. It became clear early on that her vision of reform did not include any changes to the centrality of mayoral power.

2. She has instituted an approach of inviting to the table grassroots agents that have been previously excluded, but always within a power context that projects a "balanced" perspective but greatly curtails the potential impact of social justice-focused community entities.

For instance, while one half of the school board is now finally composed of educators and youth/child development specialists, the other half is still business professionals.

Or for another example, racial and food justice activist Anton Shields co-chaired a Covid recovery committee alongside a Director of the corporate PR Firm Edelman.

The transition teams were similarly stacked with experienced community agents whose recommendations have largely gone unheeded. This is theater of inclusion.

3. Many decisions are still being driven by the Civic Consulting Alliance, an incredibly influential entity that is like the pro bono version of a corporate management consulting firm like McKinsey or Deloitte.

It operates hidden from the view of most residents and voters, but is incredibly influential. Despite a recent rebrand in which they are claiming to now prioritize racial equity and community engagement, this is an unaccountable, private sector policymaker and influencer.

At best, its teams are composed of recent business school graduates who apply a corporate management decisionmaking framework to complex social and political challenges about which they have no knowledge, insight or experience.

At worst, they are potentially still agents of a corporatist and private sector agenda that serves the interests of wealth and capital.