Gov. JB Pritzker and more than two dozen aldermen criticized Mayor Brandon Johnson for not fully considering his pick for school board president — citing the fact that the hand-picked candidate had posted multiple times on the Israeli offensive in Gaza which lasted a year.
The Rev. Mitchell “Ikenna” Johnson was appointed by the mayor to the school board leadership position after the previous seven members resigned earlier this month. But some state lawmakers and city council members questioned the decision and called for his resignation over dozens of anti-Israel messages he posted, first reported by Jewish insider.
“To the extent that anyone has been offered a position, especially one as important as president of the Chicago schools, I think the selection is vitally important. That doesn’t seem to have happened here,” Pritzker said when asked about messages made at a news conference in the Loop about a new state initiative, “Help Stop Haste “.
Rev. Johnson, who is not related to the mayor, has worked with the American Jewish Committee and the Simon Wiesenthal Center. After the Hamas attack on October 7, he began posting articles on Facebook about the war between Israel and Hamas. He often posted several times a day, increasing in frequency over the winter.
“My Jewish colleagues seem drunk on Israeli power and will live to see their payment,” he wrote in a December 19 article. “The ideology of the Nazi Germans was adopted by the Zionist Jews,” in another article dated February 20. Dozens of Facebook posts from Rev. Johnson about Israel continued into the spring.
After these messages were made public on social media, more than 20 aldermen signed a letter calling for Johnson’s immediate resignation, stating that his “continued role on the school board is non-negotiable.” They called on Rev. Johnson and the mayor to correct “this terrible mistake.”
“This situation is a lack of leadership and judgment on the part of Mayor Johnson and his management team,” the letter states. “Earlier this month, Mayor Johnson told reporters that appointees would be carefully vetted before being sworn in. It is clear that this did not happen.”
The letter directly referenced Rev. Johnson’s Facebook post in December that he was “drunk on Israeli power.” This post “unfairly held American Jews responsible for the actions of the military on the other side of the world,” the letter said.
In a statement to the Tribune on Wednesday, Rev. Johnson said he has worked “hand in hand” with Chicago’s Jewish community to combat anti-Semitism.
“I am deeply sorry that I was not more specific and deliberate in my comments published last year,” he said. “Since then, I have asked for and received feedback from my Jewish friends and colleagues that has helped me be more thoughtful in how I approach these sensitive issues. »
Ald. Debra Silverstein, 50, the council’s only Jewish member, said “(her) community is really upset.” She discussed a shooting that happened Saturday in West Rogers Park, noting that the shooting victim was on his way to his synagogue. Silverstein said the shooting “did not get the proper attention from City Hall.”
“I don’t think this administration supports the Jewish community, and I don’t know how the selection process got this person onto our school board,” Silverstein said. “I am so worried about our Jewish CPS students and their protection. Having someone on the school board who tweeted anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist tweets revolts me. »
In response to Rev. Johnson’s messages Wednesday, Mayor Johnson said the board president has since apologized for the comments made and how “harmful they were to people in the Jewish community.”
“I know he will… sit down with Jewish leaders in the city of Chicago and beyond to begin working toward restoration and healing,” Johnson said. “These are not sentiments I subscribe to, and I appreciate that Rev. Johnson is willing to be held accountable for statements he made that caused harm.”
The mayor said Rev. Johnson’s comments “in no way reflect … his commitment to ensuring that every child in our public school system is seen and heard.”
Aldermen have long been divided over the war in Gaza. Municipal council narrowly adopted a resolution last year, calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, after Mayor Johnson voted to break the tie. This made Chicago the largest US city to call for a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.
Mayor Johnson, a former CTU teacher and organizer, may also have played a role in the previous school board’s resignations after he unsuccessfully pressured Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez to take out a loan controversial, then threatened to oust him.
Ten members of the Board of Education will be elected in November, and Mayor Johnson will appoint 11 next year to join them. If the mayor chooses to appoint Rev. Johnson, he can remain president. That worries some lawmakers.
Democratic state Rep. Sara Feigenholtz said in a post on formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday evening she was “shocked and appalled that the mayor did not vet someone before appointing them.” She asked the mayor to request the resignation of the school board president. Otherwise, she threatened state intervention.
Last week, NBC reported that the newly minted president had been disbarred from his attorney position in Ohio and had a lien placed on his house due to non-payment of child support.
Asked if the accusations were accurate, Rev. Johnson responded last Friday that he was “suggested for this position because of (his) leadership ability and his ability to get things done.”
“It’s the truth,” Rev. Johnson said. “The good news is that I wasn’t hired to be an accountant, nor was I hired to be a lawyer.”
One of the seven appointed school board members, Debby Pope, who recently went private on had also republished several pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist tweets.
The school board, which Rev. Johnson currently leads, will likely decide the fate of Martinez and the controversial $300 million high-interest loan requested by the mayor to help finance a new contract with CTU and balance the district’s budget .
The next School Board meeting is scheduled for Friday.
Alice Yin and Jake Sheridan of the Chicago Tribune contributed.