Mayor Brandon Johnson’s school board chair, criticized for controversial social media posts, resigns

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s handpicked school board chair resigned Thursday after coming under fire for social media posts critics, including Gov. JB Pritzker and the mayor, called anti-Semitic, misogynistic and conspiratorial.

“Today, I asked the president of the Chicago Board of Education (BOE), the Reverend Mitchell Johnson, for his resignation, and he has resigned, effective immediately,” said the mayor, who is no relation to the school board president. named, Reverend Mitchell “Ikenna” Johnson. in a statement.

“Rev. Mitchell Johnson’s statements were not only hurtful, but deeply disturbing. I want to be clear: anti-Semitic, misogynistic and conspiratorial statements are unacceptable.”

The mayor’s announcement Thursday afternoon came about two hours after Pritzker called on the Reverend Johnson to resign from his post. Pritzker has been openly critical this week of how City Hall vetted Johnson for the schools job in light of Facebook posts that surfaced after he took the job.

“Anyone charged with the administration of the Chicago Public School Board must exemplify focused, inclusive and consistent leadership,” Pritzker said in a statement Thursday. “The views expressed in the current president’s posts — anti-Semitism, misogyny, fringe conspiracy theories — clearly do not meet that standard.

rev. Johnson was appointed by Mayor Johnson to the school board’s top leadership role after all seven previous members resigned earlier this month. Several state lawmakers and some City Council members questioned that decision and called for his resignation over dozens of anti-Israel posts he made, which were first reported by Jewish Insider.

rev. Johnson has been active in the past with the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, he began posting about the Israel-Hamas war on Facebook.

“My fellow Jews seem drunk on Israeli power and will live to see their payoff,” he wrote in a Dec. 19 post.

“The ideology of the Nazi Germans was adopted by the Zionist Jews,” in another on February 20.

Reverend Johnson’s dozens of Facebook posts about Israel continued into the spring.

After the posts were made public on social media, more than 20 aldermen signed a letter calling for Johnson’s immediate resignation, saying his “continued role on the school board is non-negotiable.” They called on both Reverend Johnson and the mayor to correct “this terrible mistake”.

“This situation is a failure of leadership and judgment on the part of Mayor Johnson and his executive team,” the letter said. “Earlier this month, Mayor Johnson told reporters that his appointees will be vetted before they are sworn in. It is clear that it did not take place.”

The letter directly addressed Rev. Johnson’s December Facebook post about being “drunk on Israeli power.” That post “held American Jews responsible for the actions of the military halfway around the world,” the letter said.

In a statement to the Tribune on Wednesday, Reverend Johnson said he worked “hand in hand” with Chicago’s Jewish community to fight anti-Semitism.

“I deeply regret that I was not more precise and deliberate in my comments posted last year,” he said. “Since then, I’ve asked for and received feedback from my Jewish friends and colleagues, which has helped me be more mindful of how I approach these sensitive issues.”

On Thursday, the mayor also said in his statement that his administration is “committed to supporting the mission of transforming our public education system” and “the reverend’s continued participation (as school board president) would hinder the important work he must do we achieve for our schools. .”

“We will move expeditiously to identify a qualified individual who shares our dedication to educational excellence and who will serve with an unwavering commitment to the values ​​we hold dear,” said Mayor Johnson. “I remain steadfast in my commitment to work with all stakeholders to ensure that every child in Chicago has access to the quality education they deserve. Protecting and empowering Chicago Public Schools students remains our North Star.”

Pritzker did not cite specific posts by Reverend Johnson in his statement Thursday calling for his resignation. But aside from the anti-Israel posts, Johnson on May 27 on Facebook appeared to indicate his agreement with a misogynistic comment posted on his account.

The post quotes Johnson as saying “Sad facts” in reference to an image that reads: “When a man earns money, he dreams of giving the best to his family and wife. But when a woman earns money, she feels that she does not need her man and her family.”

And in a Jan. 11 Facebook post, it quoted Johnson as saying “Facts!!!” in reference to a conspiracy theory about the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, DC, that “3,000+ EXPERTS AGREE: 9/11 Really Was An Inside Job.”

Responding to Reverend Johnson’s posts on Wednesday, Mayor Johnson said the council president has since apologized for the comments made and how “hurtful they were to people in the Jewish community.”