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* Background is here if you need it. From Senate President Don Harmon…
Islamophobia must be rejected along with all forms of discriminatory and hateful speech. The Senate Democratic Caucus encourages a culture that fosters diversity and inclusion. The posts shared by Senator Feigenholtz stand in contrast to our values. While her apology is a first step, she will need to do additional work in order to rebuild trust with her colleagues and constituents.
In a climate full of heated rhetoric, it is important to pause and think about what you are saying and sharing — and consider whether it is helpful or hurtful, uniting or dividing, and whether it is a true reflection of who you are or want to be.
Discuss.
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 3:31 pm
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“she will need to do additional work in order to rebuild trust with her colleagues and constituents”
I am very curious about 1) the nature of this “additional work,” and 2) how her colleagues and constituents will be made aware of it.
– MrJM
Comment by @misterjayem Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 3:52 pm
Senator Feigenholtz suffers from the same malady that many of her colleagues and others in the Capitol building suffer from. They stay to long. Time to move on, Senator. Thirty plus years is plenty.
Comment by Waves Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 3:55 pm
This is not exactly the first time that Senator Feigenholtz has been called out for his social media posts. She has had to apologize before for similar actions.
Comment by Gravitas Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 4:02 pm
Legislators and Statewide Elected Officials do not need to be using their platform to publicly demand that other public officials resign. If they are going to they need to at least be consistent.
Our public officials certainly don’t need to be in the practice of tweeting from glass houses and demanding vetting standards that they won’t themselves pass.
A legislator or especially a statewide elected official does not need to use their platform to publicly punch down. I think it is important to call out antisemitism from public officials. Obviously some elected officials do too, but some calls for action can be made privately and if the desired outcome is reached acknowledge and praised publicly as the right decision.
What Senator Feigenholtz has done has no meaningful defense. Her apology has no real explanation. She very publicly supported some very awful remarks and has claimed that she meant to support a different set of awful remarks — remarks that admittedly have a narrow focus so the awful remarks are directed at a smaller segment of the population.
So long as she continues to serve and so long as her colleagues that have been vocally demanding the resignation of other public officials fail to demand her resignation they are sending a clear message that some kinds of bigotry are okay.
I am fascinated to see what the plan for her additional work is because if the Senator just thinks that a Friday News drop before an important election will just make this go away, she is mistaken. Failing to more adequately address her behavior will continue to be a toxin that loudly and clearly speaks to some of our fellow Illinoisans that their elected officials really do think of them as something less than.
Look how disciplined her colleagues in the legislature have been, especially the ones she has personally attacked. Either they know petty tweets isn’t how we resolve our problems, or they’re focusing on everything they can do to help in the 2024 election (instead of some small and trivial things) or they’re going to see what Feigenholtz does in the near future and save their public demands for the veto session.
Comment by Candy Dogood Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 4:11 pm
To what extent are legislators receiving emails about this? I talked to one who has received four.
Comment by The Young Gov Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 4:12 pm
Her poor staff. No one wants to work for the legislator that is too dumb / volatile to not know to stay off social media.
Comment by Metro Talk Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 4:31 pm
I don’t understand. Why are they backing away from asking her to resign? And JB’s current stance on this is …
Comment by Lurker Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 4:34 pm
Unlike the recent appointee of Mayor Johnson- Sen store are elected by their constituents- Sen F should tell Harmon to pound sand and go about her business representing her district- resignation is her call to make and no one else’s-not like she committed a crime - political wokeness is a disease
Comment by Sue Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 4:35 pm
If Mary Flowers can be forced to go because of her prejudices, so can she. Do the right thing President Harmon
Comment by Toby Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 5:07 pm
== tell Harmon to pound sand ==
Calm down. I bet she does nothing of the sort. He didn’t call on her to resign.
The second paragraph of Harmon’s statement lays it out well. What happened on October 7th and what has happened in Gaza since is gut wrenching. The emotions stirred by the carnage have caused more than a few to post and say inflammatory things in the heat of the moment. (No doubt, the hate-crime shooting outside the West Rogers Park temple last week contributed to the temperature for Sen. Feigenholtz.) Her apology was a good start.
Comment by Rick J. Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 5:12 pm
==Unlike the recent appointee of Mayor Johnson- Sen store are elected by their constituents- Sen F should tell Harmon to pound sand and go about her business representing her district- resignation is her call to make and no one else’s-not like she committed a crime - political wokeness is a disease==
So Sen. Feigenholtz should stand proudly behind her hateful Islamophobic messages because you believe her constituents support those messages? Interesting. I suppose at least some of them probably do . . .
Comment by charles in charge Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 5:17 pm
Wave, I’ll take 30 years of experience and expertise in the healthcare, human services and budget space over some 20 something who’s spent most of their time learning about policy on TikTok videos. And if you have a problem with experience, then are you going to call for Don Harmon to step down after 23 years? There are plenty of others as well you could be calling out as well if you have a problem with one’s tenure.
I said it before and I’ll say it again. This is an attempt to distract from the bevy of anti Jewish, anti semitic news stories last week and try to even the score. What Feigenholtz did, which was a six or seven word comment on a post that unarguably she should’ve thought twice posting on, is not even close to how they are trying to play to the public what she said or did.
If only there was an iota of solidarity shown by Muslim community leaders like cair and Muslim civic coalition when this hate crime and act of terrorism was committed against a Jewish man in the heart of the Jewish community in Rogers park or about the good awful, disgusting posts made by the former CPS board pres. Don’t see a single statement, post, etc. from either about these incidents. So they don’t want to condemn outright, clear as day, multiple posts and comments and deadly actions taken against Jews, but they want to now organize a campaign against Feigenholtz for a poorly worded reply on a Twitter post? Let’s get real. This is nothing more than faux outrage by these organizations that want to try and get a cheap win here.
Comment by Shytown Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 5:23 pm
Meh. Member management.
The same people protesting at Northwestern are now emailing every lawmaker, some of those lawmakers are freaking out and complaining to Harmon.
Comment by Tuesday Wells Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 5:37 pm
She’s been a stellar legislator, not some mushroom sitting quietly doing nothing while taking a paycheck. Her legislative record around the human services has literally helped hundreds of thousands of young people. She deserves grace right now. Move on.
Comment by Chito Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 5:38 pm
Right response, right balance.
Comment by OneOpinion Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 5:40 pm
Toby - Mary Flowers was not forced - she lost a primary, that Speaker Welch funded against her. Good luck challenging Sen Feigholtz in a primary! I agree with Sue, the Senator should tell those asking for her resignation to go pound sand!
Comment by So Let Me Get This Straight Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 5:42 pm
==Do the right thing President Harmon==
You sound like he can simply make her resign or unseat her. News flash: he can’t.
Sara will be fine.
Comment by low level Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 5:45 pm
What Candy said. I find Harmon’s comments weak, but it is a difficult situation to navigate.
Comment by Lincoln Lad Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 5:51 pm
Feigenholtz’s family member was the victim in the recent Rogers Park shooting. A few days later she did something dumb on social media. Haven’t the best of us? She made a bad decision during a difficult time and she has apologized. Sara has always been a strong advocate for the vulnerable and the underserved. Let’s all take a deep breath and stop this ridiculous cancel culture.
Comment by Lakefront Lib Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 5:54 pm
== Look how disciplined her colleagues in the legislature have been, especially the ones she has personally attacked. ==
I must have missed it…who did she attack?
Comment by Telly Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 5:56 pm
== It seems like you’re the one trying to distract from Sen. Feigenholtz’s promoting hateful and Islamophobic messages.==
Oh, what insight you have. If these Muslim civic orgs want to retain credibility on this front, then they should have called out the violent attack on the jewish community in rogers park and the multiple actual posts made by the once president of the CPS board. This dominated the news every day last week, but not a peep from them. But Feigenholtz, who clearly misstepped here as opposed to Rev. Johnson who made it a regular habit to disparage jews, is the one deserving of an all out campaign in demand of her resignation? Again, c’mon already. This is faux outrage and an attempt to reset the narrative.
Comment by Shytown Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 8:57 pm
== This is an attempt to distract from the bevy of anti Jewish, anti semitic news stories last week and try to even the score.==
It seems like you’re the one trying to distract from Sen. Feigenholtz’s promoting hateful and Islamophobic messages.
Comment by charles in charge Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 8:57 pm
I have known the Senator for a long time. Did she misstep? Yes.
Is she Islamophobic? HECK NO.
Save me the faux outrage. And where was CAIR and Reps. Rashid and Jimenez on antisemtism in the city? NO WHERE TO BE FOUND..
Rep. Rashid should look in the mirror once in a while when discussing bias.
Comment by Rahm's Parking Meter Monday, Nov 4, 24 @ 9:04 pm
Let’s keep the same energy when Chicago School Board of Education president resigned. The only Jewish alder wrote a letter and had it signed by 30 other alders followed by the governors asking for him to step down. You can make a argument that difference is he wrote it and she promoted it.
Comment by Chicago Tuesday, Nov 5, 24 @ 5:13 am
Let’s keep the same energy when Chicago School Board of Education president resigned. The only Jewish alder wrote a letter and had it signed by 30 other alders followed by the governors asking for him to step down. You can make a argument that difference is he wrote it and she promoted it.
Comment by Chicago res Tuesday, Nov 5, 24 @ 5:14 am
Shytown said:If only there was an iota of solidarity shown by Muslim community leaders like cair and Muslim civic coalition when this hate crime and act of terrorism was committed against a Jewish man in the heart of the Jewish community in Rogers park or about the good awful, disgusting posts made by the former CPS board pres.
Interesting, so you’re saying they are antisemitic because they didn’t address the attack on the Jewish person in Chicago? Or that they have an obligation to do so, and failure to do so lessens their legitimacy in calling out Feigenholtz’s bigotry?
Gosh, would the same hold true for Jewish leadership in Illinois? Various mosques have been the targets of vandalism before and after the 10/7/23 attacks in Israel. Is the Jewish community somehow collectively responsible for saying something on each occasion? I don’t think so. And that is why it makes no sense that the legitimacy of CAIR and Muslim Civic Coalition’s efforts to seek accountability for Feigenholtz’s bigotry is lessened because they did not engage in similar advocacy for the Jewish person being attacked.
During the press conference held by CAIR Chicago, the attack on the Jewish person was referenced and condemned.
Besides JCUA, which Jewish organizations have come out against Feigenholtz’s bigotry? None that I’ve seen. So, Muslim orgs’ legitimacy is premised on their condemnation of antisemitism? But not the other way around?
Come on now. That sounds… like bias. Hmmmm…
Comment by Luke Steele Tuesday, Nov 5, 24 @ 12:02 pm
Rahm’s Parking Meter says Feigenholtz isn’t Islamophobic even though she said anti-Muslim things, but then goes on to attack others for allegedly not condemning antisemitism. Wow, that’s rich, Rahm’s Parking Meter. I guess those Muslims need to get their condemnation machine tuned up if they want to be treated like everyone else. Now, do Latinos need to condemn other forms of bigotry to have legitimacy when addressing anti-Latino bigotry? How about the LGBTQ+ community? Whom do they need to focus on for their advocacy for their constituencies to be taken seriously? I could go on and on. Sheesh.
Comment by Luke Steele Tuesday, Nov 5, 24 @ 12:09 pm