By: Mark Glennon*
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is scheduled to address the Democratic National Convention in Chicago Monday evening. Here are some of his own words from earlier. We will see whether he repeats them in his speech or is asked about them in the interviews that follow:
His critics and opponents “haven’t accepted results of the Civil War”
When speaking recently about security concerns for the convention, he said, “I understand why people might have some trepidation because you have elements in this world that want to take us back to a very dark path….They have not accepted the results of the Civil War, so they are provocating this animus towards justice and democracy.”
Last year, he said of Republicans demanding better border security, “This is the same Republican right-wing extremism that stormed the Capitol. It’s the same right-wing extremism that refuses to accept the results of the Civil War.”
Speaking about Donald Trump earlier this year, he said, “This person has made it clear he has not accepted the results of the Civil War, and he wants a rematch. They are literally trying to bring back the Confederacy.”
Standardized tests are eugenics against blacks
Johnson has condemned “the tools that have been placed against Black folks that have been used violently” including “administering standardized tests….” He later doubled down, saying that standardized tests have “roots in eugenics to prove the inferiority of Black people.”
“I never said defund the police,” but he did
Last year Johnson said, “I never said, defund the police.” But that’s not what the record shows clearly. He was confronted during a 2023 debate with video of him saying that defunding police is not “a slogan, it’s an actual real political goal.”
In 2020, as a Cook County Commissioner, Johnson said, “Reducing the sheriff’s budget is a case that I believe that we want…There is no number big enough.”
That year, speaking at an panel titled “We Don’t Call Police: A Town Hall on a Police-Free Future,” Johnson said, “part of it is removing ourselves away from this, you know, state-sponsored policing, but also the tools that have been placed against black folks that have been used violently, whether it’s policing, or administering standardized tests, or … around how white supremacy finds its way in every facet of our lives, that we have to fight and resist that.”
Looting explained by “frustration and anguish”
As the city reeled from escalating deadly violence and anarchy in the streets in summer 2020, Johnson, in a WGN-TV interview, defended looting as “an outbreak of incredible frustration and anguish” tied to “a failed racist system.”
Looted stores “have insurance and assurance”
Johnson was asked by a WGN-TV interviewer in 2020, “Do you worry about stores leaving Chicago and the county because they don’t think it’s safe?” Johnson bristled at the concern. He replied, “these companies have insurance and assurance.” He also said, “you can’t take a certain level of urgency to protect capital and the wealthy and not have that same tenacity to provide relief for families that have been devastated through structural racism for generations.”
Johnson amplified the point, saying, “We have to redirect dollars away from a failed racist system and move it into the hands of people who really are trying their very best to survive day-to-day. And if we can’t do that as a government, we are failing to meet the moment…To continue to criminalize people, and to chastise folks for being poor, it’s tired and it’s old. We actually need a new direction that really calls for massive investments in neighborhoods.”
How he taught in a public school
In a 2018 talk published on YouTube by Midwest Socialist, a publication of the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America. Johnson was asked a question (45:38) regarding the politics around education and how he handled conflicts between his personal philosophy and the requirements of the education system – in particular because Johnson taught at a selective enrollment school. His response:
And so what it taught me, though, was pushing to eliminate some of the standardization of our public schools. My students, sometimes, would get frustrated. I didn’t offer any of the test prep that my other colleagues were pushing at the time. I was pushing our administration to move away from it. To be quite frank with you, I didn’t issue a lot of homework for students. That was my own way of rebelling against the structure. I don’t think I ever gave a kid an ‘F.’ I don’t know how a student sits in front of you and fails. I know some professors may find that slightly troubling…. I think the last thing is, it actually gave me that much more motivation to actually leave the class and become a full-time organizer with the CTU….
Why he hasn’t paid personal bills
A CBS reporter in 2020 asked Johnson, “If you’ve had past fiscal issues, how can you manage a massive city budget? That was in reference to documentation CBS found showing Johnson owed $3,357.04 in unpaid water and sewer bills in addition to the more than $400 his family owed for unpaid parking tickets. He also defaulted on a Capital One credit card to the sum of more than $3,600. It ended up in court, but was resolved in 2017, said CBS.
Johnson’s answer: “It’s paid off. We took care of that. We didn’t want anyone else to be distracted by a water bill. Look, having student debt and credit card debt, that makes me a Chicagoan.”
Roots in black liberation theology
In an interview last Thursday, according to the Wall Street Journal, Johnson laughed loudly when asked if he is a progressive. He said he wears the designation as “a badge of honor” because his positions are “rooted in Black liberation theology,” and that the nation’s progressive traditions helped shape [Kamala] Harris.”
Black liberation theology is widely claimed to have Marxist roots, though others dispute that. Its most famous adherent is Jeremiah Wright, Pastor Emeritus of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Among the things Wright has said:
The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing ‘God Bless America’? No. No. No. Not God Bless America, ‘God damn America. God damn America for killing innocent people…. They will not only attack you if you try to point out what’s happening in white America. U.S. of KKK…. [Americans] believe in white supremacy and black inferiority and believe it more than we believe in God.
Honoring Fred Hampton, Black Panther
“Chairman Fred Hampton, one of the great educators and organizers” is part of the “rich history” of Chicago’s West side, Johnson said last year.
Johnson proclaimed August 30 as annual “Fred Hampton Day” for Chicago.
Hampton was chairman of the Black Panthers’ Illinois chapter, which is why his admirers today call him “Chairman.” He advocated for violent, communist revolution in America. He invoked the worst of history’s communists in the name of that cause, including Mao, Lennin, Marx, Che Guevara and Kim Il Sung.
*Mark Glennon is founder of Wirepoints.
Audio and summary 
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
Johnson says ridiculous things to dehumanize you, deplorable, because you are nothing more than a blue-eyed devil. It becomes easier to hurt you after you’ve been dehumanized.
This guy is a nut. Totally out of touch with reality, living in his own little socialistic world. He is not the mayor of the City of Chicago…only parts of it for specific people. It is scary that he speaks this way…and people still vote for him. Does his ethnic back ground really matter when his views are this nuts? His policies are not working for the Black communities – so why support this pinhead.
Sadly, Johnson really believes the things he says, and while shocking to people like us, these are commonly accepted beliefs in the progressive circles he runs in. Progressives are here to stay, whether we like it or not. The voters seem to be coming around to removing the most virulent anti-semites among them from political office, but the rest of the ideology remains.
Fred Hampton was executed without trial
Imagine someone living outside of Chicago, or Illinois, being offered a job opportunity in Chicago after hearing this mayor’s message. They will probably take a pass and wait for an opportunity elsewhere, where the person at the top isn’t delusional. Not only is the future dim for the quantity of jobs in Illinois but also the quality. The politics scare away talent.
In his own words: “I didn’t offer test prep or assign homework. I rebelled against the system and never gave a kid an ‘F’.” Brandon Johnson failed as a teacher, so he became an organizer; he failed to pay his bills, so he became the Mayor. Being a Progressive (Radical Left) means you never have to say you’re sorry. He will be a hit at the DNC.
The gaslighting by the legacy media this week could be epic – you may think your in a foreign country, like Venezeula.
First we get the money……..
Old Joe – his problem is that he is not getting the money.
A number of his revenue plays require Springfield’s assistance and they will be of little help.
Since cutting spending is completely foreign to him, he is going to be in way over his head managing sizable deficits. He has no background or mindset to manage these issues. It won’t be pleasant.
Why wouldn’t he use those same words? He’s never been held accountable by the media for what he has said. He’s a racist, but that’s okay, because the media embraces those with hatred towards others, as long as they agree with it.