The 20s

“

On Monday, I wrote a blog post asking why Illinois is the only state that regularly elects African-Americans to the U.S. Senate. Of the four black senators who’ve served since Reconstruction, three have hailed from our own hometown of Chicago.

The post was picked up by the Drudge Report, and read nationwide. Since this is a blog about Chicago politics, I normally only hear from Chicagoans. But yesterday, I heard from the other 49 states. Maybe passions are high these days, because Southerners are commemorating the 150th anniversary of the secessionist movement. But I was assailed with e-mails from all across America, informing me that blacks are too stupid, lazy, greedy and corrupt to be trusted with public office.

”