By Illinois Review
On Monday, the U.S. Department of Justice opened an investigation into Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s hiring practices after he delivered remarks at the Apostolic Church of God in Woodlawn on Sunday emphasizing the race of his top hires within his administration.
“Business and Economic Neighborhood Development, the deputy mayor is a Black woman.”
“Department of Planning and Development is a Black woman.”
“Infastructure, deputy mayor is a Black woman.”
“Chief of Operations is a Black man.”
“Budget Director is a Black woman.”
“Senior Advisor is a Black man.”
The comments drew the immediate attention of Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhilllon, who penned a letter on Monday informing the mayor of the investigation.
The embattled mayor, who has an approval rating of just 6 percent – the lowest of any mayor in Chicago’s history – regularly invokes racism to avoid answering questions about his administration.
In one instance, Mayor Johnson bizarrely compared those who disagreed with him about school spending to slavery, saying,
“When our people wanted to be liberated and emancipated in this country, the argument was, ‘you can’t free Black people because it would be too expensive. They said it would be fiscally irresponsible for this country to liberate Black people.”
After President Donald Trump was elected by an overwhelming majority last November, Johnson called his victory a “threat” to Black families despite Trump earning more support from Black voters than any Republican in nearly 50 years.
In April, Johnson referred to President Trump as a “terrorist” for threatening to withhold federal funding from sanctuary cities.
“Trying to force your will to break the spirit of working people in order to have a conversation, that’s terrorism,” Johnson said to a group of reporters.
“We’re not going to negotiate with terrorists.”
The mayor’s office is also dealing with a scandal and includes multiple complaints of racism, sexual harassment, intimidation and misogyny involving his former communications director Ronnie Reese, who was fired in November.
In a letter delivered to Johnson on Monday, Dhillon wrote,
“The Department of Justice is opening an investigation to determine whether the City of Chicago, Illinois, is engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination based on race, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964…”
The Assistant Attorney General continued,
“When the Attorney General has reasonable cause to believe that a state or local government employer is engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination in violation of Title VII, it is the Attorney General’s responsibility to take appropriate action to eliminate that violation, including seeking injunctive relief.”
The mayor’s office responded to the investigation with an attack on the Trump administration.
“Mayor Johnson is proud to have the most diverse administration in the history of our city. Our administration reflects the diversity and values of Chicago. Unfortunately, the current federal administration does not reflect either.”
Johnson and his administration are expected to cooperate with the investigation.
