Mayor Lightfoot Takes Part In Virtual Panel With Joe Biden On First Night Of Democratic National Convention
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot played a role in the first night of the all-virtual Democratic National Convention Monday night, as part of a conversation on race.
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden talked with remotely with a panel that included Mayor Lightfoot, for an event called "The Path Forward."
"How do you prioritize the kind of things you have to do as we try to tackle, in a way that we haven't before, systemic racism in the city?" Biden asked.
"It really is about economic empowerment, because if people are lifted out of poverty and they are given an opportunity to feel a stake in their own future, that goes a long way," Mayor Lightfoot said.
Also on the panel were Derek Johnson, president of the NAACP; Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner, who died in NYPD custody on Staten Island in 2014 as officers held him in a chokehold; social justice advocate Jamira Burley; and Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo.
The primetime DNC program featured speeches from across the political spectrum – including former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican who urged fellow GOP voters to switch sides; and U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota), both former Biden rivals in the Democratic presidential primary. Sanders asked fellow progressives to unite around Biden.
Meanwhile, former First Lady Michelle Obama called out President Donald Trump for what she said was a lack of leadership and a lack of empathy.
"They see an entitlement that says only certain people belong here, that greed is good, and winning is everything, because as long as you come out on top, it doesn't matter what happens to everyone else," Mrs. Obama said.
Mrs. Obama called Biden a profoundly decent man who is the right leader for his time.