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The Rev. Mitchell Johnson's resignation came at the request of
Mayor Brandon Johnson.
“Rev. Mitchell Johnson’s statements were not only hurtful but
deeply disturbing,” the mayor said in a statement. “I want to be
clear: antisemitic, misogynistic, and conspiratorial statements
are unacceptable.”
Mitchell Johnson was appointed president just a week ago. He was
among seven board members tabbed earlier this month by Brandon
Johnson after former members of board managing the nation's
third-largest school district resigned en masse.
Media reports have turned up social media posts by Mitchell
Johnson that showed him agreeing that the 9/11 terror attacks on
New York and elsewhere were an “inside job."
Forty of the city's 50 alderpersons called on him to step down
after a post following the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that
appeared to defend Hamas and added, "My Jewish colleagues appear
drunk with the Israeli power and will live to see their
payment.” Yet another post appeared to denigrate working women.
The mayor's statement came just hours after Gov. J.B. Pritzker
demanded Mitchell Johnson's ouster. Pritzker this week had
criticized the vetting process the mayor used in selecting the
board president.
“Any person charged with the stewardship of the Chicago Public
School Board must exemplify focused, inclusive, and steady
leadership,” Pritzker said in a statement. “The views expressed
in the current chair’s posts — antisemitism, misogyny, fringe
conspiracy theories — very clearly do not meet that standard."
The former board, chosen by the mayor just months after he took
office in 2023, quit rather than join a struggle the mayor has
had with schools CEO Pedro Martinez over issues including how to
close budget gaps. Martinez was appointed by Brandon Johnson's
predecessor, and Martinez has refused to resign.
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