Majority of Chicago City Council calls for education board president’s resignation following antisemitic posts
The legislators also called out Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who has not weighed in on the inflammatory posts from Rev. Mitchell Ikenna Johnson

Screenshot
Rev. Mitchell Johnson
Twenty-six aldermen on the Chicago City Council are calling for Rev. Mitchell Johnson to resign from his position as president of the Chicago Board of Education due to his lengthy history of making antisemitic remarks online.
“We call on Rev. Johnson to apologize and step down from his position immediately,” the 26 aldermen, representing more than half of the body’s members, wrote in a joint letter. “The thousands of Jewish families who send their kids to Chicago Public Schools deserve representation who values them and does not express hate towards the Jewish community.” Johnson’s comments, including a statement saying his “Jewish colleagues appear drunk with the Israeli power,” were first reported in Jewish Insider.
Johnson did not respond to a request for comment. But on Tuesday evening, soon after the report was published, he went on Facebook to share a quote indicating he will not apologize and that he does not regret writing the antisemitic posts: “I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence,” the post said, attributing the quote to abolitionist Frederick Douglass.
The 26 aldermen calling for Johnson’s resignation called the situation “a failure of leadership and judgment on the part of Mayor [Brandon] Johnson and his executive team.” Mayor Johnson — who appointed Rev. Johnson to the role in early October amid a leadership crisis at the school board — “told reporters his appointees would be thoroughly vetted before they were sworn in. It was clear that did not take place,” the aldermen wrote.
“His continued role on the school board is non-negotiable. Both he and Mayor Johnson must act now to correct this terrible mistake,” wrote the aldermen, including Debra Silverstein, the city’s lone Jewish alderman.
Mayor Johnson’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment from JI. He has not weighed in on Rev. Johnson’s antisemitic posts.
Silverstein told JI on Wednesday that she has not heard from Mayor Johnson, nor did his office acknowledge receiving the letter.
“I’m appalled, and I’m still wondering how he managed to get through the vetting process. That’s a question that I have for the mayor’s office,” Silverstein said. “I would really hope that [Mayor Johnson] asks him to resign. I don’t know if he will do that or not, but he definitely should.”
Silverstein has publicly stated that Mayor Johnson needs to work harder to engage the Jewish community and meet their needs, and she stood by that assessment.
“The mayor has a lot of fences to mend with the Jewish community, because right now we’re scared and we don’t feel safe,” said Silverstein. “He hasn’t taken any actions to do that as of yet.”
This story was updated at 6:18 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Oct. 30.