A defiant Mayor Brandon Johnson on Tuesday urged the U.S. Justice Department, which is now investigating his administration’s hiring practices, to launch a similar probe of what he said is the predominantly white administration of President Donald Trump.
With “only one Black person in his administration” and a U.S. Education secretary in Linda McMahon whose “background is wrestling,” Johnson said it’s clear that Trump is “aligned with the ultra-rich,” and has assembled a “country club” administration dominated by white people at the expense of “marginalized” groups.
The mayor responded with trademark defiance a day after the Justice Department launched a federal civil rights investigation of Chicago’s hiring practices — a response to remarks Johnson made at a recent appearance on the South Side.
During a conversation with Bishop Byron Brazier at the Apostolic Church of God in Woodlawn Sunday, Johnson boasted about the record number of African Americans he has hired for top city jobs.
On Tuesday, Johnson defended his own hiring practices that he said emphasize both competency and diversity. He then tried to turn the tables on Trump, demanding that the DOJ investigate Trump’s hiring practices and claiming the president is “using his power to divide people.”
“As my administration reflects the country, it reflects the city — his administration reflects the country club,” Johnson said. “That is the biggest difference between what we’re doing in Chicago and what is coming from the federal government. … I’m calling on the Department of Justice to investigate the Trump administration and its discriminatory practices and their hiring.”
On Sunday, Johnson’s renewed attempts to rally his Black base and communicate his own story instead of allowing his opponents to define him came back to bite him.
At the Woodlawn appearance, Johnson acknowledged that there are “some detractors who will push back on me and say the only thing the mayor talks about is the hiring of Black people.” But he said, “What I’m saying is, when you hire our people, we always look out for everybody else. We are the most generous people on the planet.”
During Tuesday’s weekly City Hall news conference, Johnson was asked whether there was anything he said to the church audience that, in hindsight, he would change.
The mayor said he wouldn’t change a thing, adding that what matters most in city hiring is “competency, collaboration and diversity.”
“Why wouldn’t I speak to Black Chicago? Black Chicago and Black people in America have borne the brunt of the type of policies and the maneuvering and the humiliating tactics that are coming from the federal government right now,” he said.
Johnson questioned who could possibly “be mad” at his decision to “prioritize” South and West Side neighborhoods that “have been harmed the most” for decades.
“We don’t have to apologize for being concerned about the residents of this city who have borne the brunt of school closures. Think about unemployment in this city, where it is mostly concentrated. Think about violence where it is mostly concentrated,” he said. “It would be shameful if I were to repeat the sins of those who have been in this position before because they did not speak enough to Black Chicago. It’s why the conditions have worsened.”
Trump has waged war on what he calls “wokeness,” and has vowed to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs in public schools and college admissions and in corporate and governmental hiring.
By investigating Chicago’s hiring practices, Johnson said Trump is “using his power to divide people” and “trying to intimidate working people. … I’m not gonna stand for it.”
City Council dean Walter Burnett (27th) told the Sun-Times this week that Trump’s decision to launch a hiring investigation triggered by Johnson’s remarks shows that, “The mayor better be careful what he’s saying.”
On Tuesday, Johnson made a point of listing the Latinos he has appointed to top city jobs, including: chief of staff Cristina Pacione-Zayas; Beatriz Ponce de Leon, deputy mayor of Immigrant, Migrant and Refugee Rights; Chief Homelessness Officer Sendy Soto; Chief Sustainability Officer Angela Tovar; and City Colleges Chancellor Juan Salgado.
“The city of Chicago has suffered from a great deal of pain because of the political and the racial dividing lines that have existed in the city for a long time. I’m going to break those lines,” Johnson said. “Any group that has been marginalized that have suffered under tyranny and oppression, we’re gonna show up for them. We’re not gonna be intimidated by the tyranny that’s coming from the federal government.”