Chicago Newsroom 03/07/19

Published on Mar 7, 2019

Willie Wilson and Ja’Mal Green, both former contenders for the Mayor’s office, appear in separate conversations this week about the upcoming election that will settle once and for all who’s about
to be our new Mayor, Treasurer and, in about a dozen Wards, the next Alderman. Wilson tells us that he’s about to endorse in the Mayoral race, which can be significant since about 60,000 Chicagoans voted for him, mostly in the City’s black communities. Although his decision won’t be announced until Friday, he drops broad hints when he criticizes Preckwinkle for her association with Joe Berrios and for the failed “soda tax.” Wilson says that Berrios inflicted severe damage on low-income communities, African-Americans in particular, by assigning higher tax rates to poorer
communities than to the City’s highest-income areas. He also describes his own personal journey, in which he came to accept that gays and lesbians should be judged by God, not by mortals such as himself. He says he has spent a great deal of time in his communities attempting to persuade ministers that they shouldn’t judge others by their declared sexual preferences.

Ja’Mal Green didn’t make it into the election itself, in part because Wilson challenged his petitions. Green talks with us about the petition process and how it discriminates against those
who don’t have expensive lawyers and consultants to navigate the approval process. Green says he isn’t pleased with either of the remaining candidates, because Preckwinkle imposed the soda tax and other regressive taxes and Lightfoot was not respectful of the young activist community while she was head of the Police Board. However, Green says he intends to endorse a candidate before the
April 2 election. In the meantime, he’s busy working with the newly-reconstituted Bernie Sanders campaign, he tells us.
This program was produce by Chicago Access Television.