Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s selection of Mitchell L. Ikenna Johnson to move the Chicago Public Faculties is going through heavy criticism and spurring requires the latter to resign after revelations that he engaged in a protracted collection of antisemitic feedback on social media.
After wanting over his months of antisemitic posts, the Consulate Common of Israel to the Midwest mentioned it’s “unfathomable” that he was been put in such an vital place, and a few have even referred to as him a “vile Jew hater.”
Johnson has rebuffed the calls to resign, however he has apologized and pledged to guard all college students, even Jewish college students, as he takes over the college system.
Johnson instructed Chicago’s aldermen that he’s “deeply sorry for not being extra exact and deliberate in [his] feedback” and admitted that a few of his social media posts “could possibly be construed as antisemitic,” WBEZ reported.
“Let me begin by apologizing to the Jewish group for the remarks I posted, which had been clearly reactive and insensitive,” Mitchell Johnson mentioned. “Since that point, I’ve requested for and obtained suggestions from my Jewish buddies and colleagues who helped me be extra considerate as I addressed these delicate issues.”
Nonetheless, Johnson has engaged in quite a lot of hateful feedback about Israel and Jews, to not point out coming to the help of Hamas, particularly within the wake of the phobia assault on Israel on October 7, 2023. However he has additionally engaged in antisemitic sentiment at the least since 2018, based on WBEZ.
For the reason that October 7 assault, Johnson has shared dozens of posts praising Hamas and justifying the homicide, kidnapping, and rapes of Israeli civilians.
In a single submit in December, as an illustration, Johnson requested, “How can a bunch of people that have suffered from the Holocaust; as we speak be a part of with the Alt Proper Group?”
In different posts, Johnson in contrast Israel to Nazi Germany, based on JewishInsider.
“The Nazi Germans’ ideology has been adopted by the Zionist Jews,” Johnson wrote in February. “The Israeli authorities gives a renewal of Nazi language as soon as directed towards European Jews, ‘savages, canine, vermin,’” he wrote in March.
In one other submit, Johnson claimed that Hamas has “an absolute proper to assault their oppressors by any means essential!”
In different posts, he demanded that folks “cease blaming Hamas,” mentioned folks “should transfer away from supporting Israel,” and referred to as Jewish folks he has generally known as “former buddies.”
He additionally endorsed and echoed claims that Israel has been engaged in “genocide.”
“Allow us to go into 2024 with a dedication to vary the narrative and power, sure power Israel to attone [sic] for its shameful try at genocide towards the Palistinian [sic] folks,” Johnson wrote.
Johnson additionally insisted that Jews within the U.S. should surrender Israel’s “crimes.” He even claimed that Zionists are “Luciferians.”
With the lengthy listing of antisemitic feedback, many at metropolis corridor have frightened about Johnson’s skill to guard Jewish college students within the Chicago Public Faculties.
Debra Silverstein, fiftieth Ward alderman, for one, mentioned the social media screeds referred to as “into query his skill to pretty characterize Jewish college students and households in Chicago Public Faculties.”
Certainly, 26 aldermen joined collectively on a letter questioning Johnson’s suitability.
“We’re deeply troubled by antisemitic and pro-Hamas feedback made by Rev. Mitchell Ikenna Johnson,” the letter says. “This case is a failure of management and judgment on the a part of Mayor [Brandon] Johnson and his government group,” the letter says.
“[Rev. Johnson’s] feedback have crossed main purple traces into overt antisemitism, each in his express help for Hamas and his insistence on collectively blaming all Jews for Israel’s army actions,” they mentioned, calling for his resignation. “His continued position on the college board is non-negotiable.”
The American Jewish Committee Chicago and the Anti-Defamation League Midwest have additionally referred to as on Johnson to resign.
The Consulate Common wrote, “We discover it appalling that Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s newly appointed president of the Chicago Board of Training, Rev. Mitchell Ikenna Johnson, has a historical past of constructing antisemitic statements, as reported by Jewish Insider.”
“It’s unfathomable that an individual corresponding to Rev. Johnson has handed the vetting course of. He isn’t match for a public place, not to mention a place with the accountability to teach the subsequent era,” the group added.
“That is the newest instance of the antisemitic hate that pervades the internal circle of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. We anticipate that Mayor Brandon Johnson will disavow this inflammatory rhetoric and make a dedication to combatting antisemitism in Chicago, in each phrases and actions,” they wrote.
For his half, Mitchell Johnson has apologized however has refused to resign.
“The remarks I posted had been reactive and insensitive, and I’m deeply sorry for not being extra exact and deliberate in my feedback posted final yr,” Johnson wrote in a press release, based on Chalkbeat. “Since then, I’ve requested for and obtained suggestions from my Jewish buddies and colleagues, who helped me be extra considerate in the way in which I tackle these delicate issues.” He added that he’s “dedicated to creating certain that antisemitism and hate of any sort don’t have any place in Chicago Public Faculties.”
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