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Democratic Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has faced criticism on Twitter for posting a photo of herself reading “To Kill a Mockingbird” in a Texas bookstore and speaking out against a book ban.
“In Texas, reading any damn book I choose,” Lightfoot wrote on Sunday. “No ban on books or thoughts. Ever.”
Many Twitter users criticized Lightfoot for the tweet, with some urging her to address Chicago’s skyrocketing crime rate instead of tweeting about books. Others pointed out that “To Kill a Mockingbird” was banned in California, a blue state.
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Mayor Lori Lightfoot chairs a City Council meeting on October 10. 27, 2021, in Chicago. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
(Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“According to Barack Obama, it’s easier in Chicago for a kid to get a gun than a book,” wrote Daily Wire investigative reporter Luke Rosiak.
“Yes, red states are great,” wrote Dr. Nan Hayworth, a former Republican congresswoman from New York. “It’s good to see the mayor of Chicago celebrating this. Let’s see if she takes home any lessons.”
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Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown addresses reporters about a suspect in the murder of a 7-year-old girl earlier this year. A 14-year-old girl was shot in the head Wednesday night after being chased by gang members, authorities said.
(Chicago Police Department)
“I don’t get it,” National Review editor Philip Klein tweeted. “Was it a mate attempt in Texas? Because the moral here is that in Texas, she can read any damn book she chooses.”
“Wise choice,” tweeted Nick Freitas, a Republican state delegate from Virginia. “With all the violence you handle in the city, I can see why you want to go somewhere safe to read.”
“You chose a safe place, TEXAS, to read any damn book you choose,” the Texas state representative tweeted. James White, a Republican. “Congratulations! But with crime fatally impacting Chicago children and your aspiration for Chicago to become an abortion sanctuary, is there a place for Chicago children to read or listen to a book safely?”
The Rev. Randall Blakey (left) and Thomas Applegate (right), executive director of the North River Commission, listen as Chicago Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot speaks with residents and local officials in the Albany Park neighborhood on Wednesday, March 15. May 2019 in Chicago, Illinois.
(Joshua Lott for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The Cook County Republican Party used an emoji to suggest Lightfoot is a clown and mentioned how a 16-year-old boy died after being shot in Millennium Park during a “large group” incident on Saturday night, according to the policeman.
“I can understand why you’re in Texas, based on reports about what’s going on in Chicago right now,” said journalist Stephen L. Miller.
“Listen, California Democrats banned that book. Not Texas Republicans,” said journalist Ian Miles Cheong.
Commentator Guy Benson posted a photo from a 2020 Newsweek story about how “To Kill a Mockingbird” had been banned from schools in Burbank, California. The ban came after complaints from four parents, three of whom were black, that the book posed potential harm to the district’s roughly 400 black students.
Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men,” Theodore Taylor’s “The Cay,” and Mildred D. Taylor’s “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry” were also banned.
“Are you sure you’re not in Gavin Newsom’s California?” radio host Larry O’Connor asked.
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Lightfoot’s photo shoot was reminiscent of a similar tweet made by the California Democratic Party. Governor Gavin Newsom, who came under fire in March after posting a photo of himself reading Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” alongside several other books that he suggested some states “fear” because of censorship. “To Kill a Mockingbird” was included.