Things are looking bleak for Brandon Johnson, the far-left Mayor of Chicago who was already being probed for corruption over a “gift room” full of gifts for him, some of them missing or nor properly recorded, found in the city hall. That is because he just landed himself in major trouble with the Department of Justice by discriminating when handing out the city’s contracts.
Mayor Johnson’s woes came thanks to remarks he made at Chicago’s Woodlawn Church on Sunday, May 18. During his speech, he claimed to hand out city contracts on a favorable basis to make up for wealth that he claimed has been stolen from African-Americans. In short, he claimed to be using city contracts as his own reparations scheme.
That is potentially illegal under American law, as it is taking race into account in the awarding of contracts. Though long allowed, in certain cases, to boost minority contracting, President Trump has revoked most of the DEI decrees, making it much more likely both that the DOJ will look into things with a critical eye and that what the mayor did was illegal.
Announcing its investigation in a letter to the City of Chicago, the DOJ alleged that Johnson and the city could have engaged in a pattern of racial discrimination. It said, “The Department of Justice is opening an investigation to determine whether the City of Chicago, Illinois, is engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination based on race, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq. (“Title VII”). It is the responsibility of the Attorney General of the United States to enforce the provisions of Title VII with respect to state and local government employers. The Attorney General has delegated the authority to investigate compliance with these provisions to the Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division. See 28 C.F.R. § 0.50(a).”
Continuing, the letter to the city provided, “Title VII prohibits discrimination on the basis of race. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2. When the Attorney General has reasonable cause to believe that a state or local government employer is engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination in violation of Title VII, it is the Attorney General’s responsibility to take appropriate action to eliminate that violation, including seeking injunctive relief. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-6(a).”
Building on that, the DOJ noted that the investigation was sparked by what Johnson freely admitted, saying, “Our investigation is based on information suggesting that you have made hiring decisions solely on the basis of race. In your remarks made yesterday at the Apostolic Church of God in Woodlawn, you “highlight[ ed] the number of Black officials in [your] administration.” You then went on to list each of these individuals, emphasizing their race.”
Then, adding to that, the DOJ laid out a brutal list of Johnson’s quotes, noting that he said: “‘Business and economic neighborhood development, the deputy mayor is a Black woman’; ‘Department of planning and development is a Black woman.’; ‘Infrastructure, deputy mayor is a Black woman’; ‘Chief operations officer is a Black man’; ‘Budget director is a Black woman’; ‘Senior advisor is a Black man.’ Concluding the quotes section, the DOJ said, “You then said that you were ‘laying’ these positions “out” to ‘ensure that our people get a chance to grow their business[.]'”
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Concluding, the DOJ said that an investigation is appropriate given what Johnson freely admitted to, saying, “Considering these remarks, I have authorized an investigation to determine whether the City of Chicago is engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination as set forth above. If these kind of hiring decisions are being made for top-level positions in your administration, then it begs the question whether such decisions are also being made for lower-level positions. It is important to note that we have not reached any conclusions about the subject matter of the investigation. We intend to consider all relevant information, and we welcome your assistance in helping to identify what that might be.”
Watch Johnson’s remarks here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video