Though he is the mayor of a big city, the spirit of organizing is still within Brandon Johnson. No longer the hunger striker protesting former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s attempt to close a South Side high school, Mayor Johnson’s administration represents a regime change from Democratic politics as usual.
It’s a tough direction to take. While Johnson extols that he is “anti-establishment,” it’s expected that he balance the competing interests of grassroots activists, educators and laborers; the old money families, the business community, and the working-class; as well as poverty-stricken residents from all ethnic backgrounds, and a rapidly fracturing Democratic Party.
Historically, the mayor’s power has disproportionately benefited a select few, as evidenced by the segregated pockets of increasing poverty and disinvestment across Chicago. Johnson, however, is attempting to govern differently than the handpicked, heavily-funded white Democrats who came before him. He tells The TRiiBE that he’s fighting the political systems and traditions of Chicago’s “old guard, old machine” establishment — and as the battle ensues, battered by some self-inflicted wounds and skirmishes with opponents and allies alike, his wins and messaging are seemingly getting lost along the way.
“Those who used to have the power recognize that I know that the power exists, and they are working hard to create chaos in order to distract our people,” Johnson said. “In other words, the Elon Musks of Chicago want the seat back, even if their name is not attached to it. They’ll put somebody here who will do their bidding.”
He’s been catching up with Black residents and the Black press, because he says there is a concerted effort by white-owned mass media to withhold details about his ongoing commitments to Black Chicagoans. Johnson recently invited The TRiiBE to his campaign office in an effort to set the record straight in a one-on-one conversation.
He’s telling people about investments such as the $50 million allocated to 29,000 youth jobs, the reopening of a shuttered mental health facility in Roseland, and his $1.25 billion Housing and Economic Bond, which funds development and repopulation projects like the Missing Middle Infill Housing initiative.
According to Johnson, some $20 billion in investments have been allocated for Black Chicagoans. Johnson’s team also says those investments include $426 million for disaster relief from the 2023 and 2024 floods; the Psi Quantum Campus on the South Side, which is expected to generate a $20 billion economic impact over the next 10 years and more than 175,000 jobs; and the new Advocate Health Care hospital with its accompanying 10 new outpatient facilities.
Despite these investments, the migrant housing crisis has dominated the headlines in Chicago even as the Trump administration has implemented anti-immigrant policies. This leads to the false, yet sweeping narrative amongst some Black communities that Johnson has done more for the migrants than he has for Black Chicagoans.
“Within the first 20 minutes in office, I had to come up with a plan to respond to a crisis that I inherited. I [made] a moral decision to make sure that human beings were not sleeping on floors,” Johnson said. “We are a welcoming city. We are attached to the history of Mayor Harold Washington and his corporate counsel [James] Montgomery, who understood that giving free reign to law enforcement to do anything that it pleased was dangerous, particularly to our people.”
Johnson sees the struggles between Black folks and immigrants as a part of a shared oppression by white supremacy and colonialism. He will address this directly when he hits the national stage in Washington D.C., where he’ll defend Chicago’s sanctuary city status on March 5 in front of a collection of President Donald Trump loyalists.
To send him off covered in prayer and community support, the Chicago Alliance Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) organized a rally for Johnson at Healing Temple Church in the Austin neighborhood.
Chicago Board of Education member and storied organizer Jitu Brown welcomed Johnson to the stage. Before doing so, he talked about the longtime work of the movement which has yielded wins such as an elected school board — a direct response to Emanuel’s historic public school closures.
Brown said Chicago’s machine politics worked to remove the soul of Chicago: seen in the significant decline of Black population from a little over 1 million in 2000 to just under 800,000 today. It is through the movement’s collective power, Brown said, that they put one of their own, Johnson, on the fifth floor of City Hall.
“It has been an organized purge of Black people from the city of Chicago by killing schools and killing housing, and now the energy is anti-immigrant,” Brown said.
Johnson took to the pulpit, reciting the movement’s rallying call-and-response: “power to the people.” He also referred to the upcoming congressional hearing in DC as a pit stop to let the world know that under his administration, Chicago is building a safer and stronger city through the lens of justice.
“No matter how they bark, no matter how loud they yell, they are not going to disrupt what we call the soul of Chicago: Black, brown, white, Asian, a multi-generational, multi-ethnic coalition that has created 77 unique neighborhoods.”
This written interview has been edited and condensed for readability. You can listen to the full conversation by clicking play on the video below.
My name is Tiffany Walden. I’m the co-founder and editor-in-chief of The TRiiBE. I’m here with the mayor, Brandon Johnson. Good evening. How are you doing?
Mayor Brandon Johnson: Good evening. I’m doing well. How are you?
I’m pretty good. It’s a nice day.
Mayor: It really is, especially for the end of February, as we culminate Black History Month. So yeah, it was really nice to have a nice little breeze.
What are you carrying with you today? What's on your heart, spiritually, emotionally?
Mayor: I'm carrying with me today, just the hopes and aspirations, honestly, of our ancestors. Today, I spent a lot of time thinking about Mayor Harold Washington and his corporate counsel, James Montgomery, who's still alive today – the first Black Corporate Council in the history of Chicago.
As we prepare to go into this next political season around our values, I'm thinking about two incredible, courageous Black men who understood their assignment. James Montgomery was also the legal counsel for the Black Panther Party. I don’t think he’s been properly recognized and honored in this city, but I’m going to do something about that.
Just you saying his name is educating all of us. I learned about him when you talked about him last week on WVON.
Mayor: Well, that's encouraging. Now I feel like an effective social studies teacher.
You've also been outside, too, spreading your message. You were in East Garfield Park earlier this week for your “Faith in Government Tour.” I grew up around there. Even last night, I was just driving through Douglass Park and I saw your name on the light post as I was passing the Safe Haven. What are you hearing – what are you seeing when you're outside talking to Black people?
Mayor: We're obviously at a crossroads. I'm inspired by the tenacity and the energy in this city. What I hear [is that ] I hear people wanting more. They want more, and rightfully so. To me, if I wasn't hearing anything, then I could draw a conclusion that perhaps people have given up on what's possible in this city.
Having some noise means that there's some activity. Having some friction means that there's an opportunity for a spark, and that is really the essence of our existence. We're not just making noise to soothe ourselves or for the sake of just hearing ourselves. We're making a noise to constantly remind us [Black Chicago] of the need for change and transformation.
What are some of the things [people have] asked you about?
Mayor: [They’ve asked] anything from an opportunity for their child, whether it's an opportunity for them to participate in a program or it's an up-and-coming entrepreneur who wants to establish a business in the city of Chicago. They want to know the process. Or, it's a large corporation that wants to figure out how to grow their footprint in the city of Chicago.
And then there's sometimes the older Black woman who whispers in my ear and says, “I'm praying for you no matter what people are saying. There are a lot of folks out here who believe in you and support you.”
And then there's some people who just come up and just say “thank you,” because [of] how the government has shown up for them. So there's a range of expectations. It's a range of aspirations. There's a range of a level of anxiety and some level of trepidation and even confusion. Something that I do hear more frequently than I want to is, “Mayor I just didn't know.”
So when they find out about what's available, they are to some extent relieved, but yet somehow dismayed, because one thing that I know about our people is we don't ever want to be lied to.
What are your commitments to Black Chicagoans? What are some of the things that you all have done so far that people may or may not have heard about?
So one of the first things that I did was [acknowledge] it's not enough to win the power, you have to protect the power. And the first thing that I did for our people was made sure that I put key Black people in positions of power to protect it. And I'll be honest with you. My wife hates when I speak like this, however, if anything were to ever happen to me, and God forbid, I have placed our people in key positions to make it almost impossible for them to do to us what they did 40 years ago.
That's why it was important to have the first Black vice mayor in the history of Chicago, Ald. Burnett. We made sure that where the power moves in City Council, that our people were chairs of those committees. And then we took it one step further. We put key [Black] people in position in my office.
Where I'm also proud is that — one thing that I know for sure, Black people, we love our young people. We do. So the vast majority of young people who receive jobs are in our communities. In fact, the top neighborhood is the Austin neighborhood; 1,672 children receive jobs in the Austin neighborhood.
The second thing that was important was behavioral mental health. So when Mayor Harold Washington was around, [there were] 19 mental health facilities. We were down to five when I got elected.
They were intentionally closed.
Mayor: Intentionally closed. Thank you. They were intentionally closed, depriving our people of a valuable public accommodation. [In] my first budget, [I] made a commitment to opening up three; so we have Roseland, Garfield Park and the lower West Side, the Pilsen clinic. These are three behavioral mental health services that are available to our people.
We expanded the Crisis Assistance Response Engagement (CARE) program. So when people are having mental health crises, a [professional] behavioral health counselor shows up, and not a police officer.
And then here's the other big one, building homes. So last year, in our Department of Planning Development, we committed $11 billion to build more units — 9,600 [units], essentially, through just last year's investment [and] 37,000 jobs associated there. My main goal is to repopulate the city of Chicago with working people, particularly folks who have been on the margins for a very long time. We've only lost one particular group in the city of Chicago, and that's Black people. And so we built 4,000 affordable units, making sure we're concentrating them in our communities, while we're also ensuring that the people who actually do the development look like us.
We have this incredible project called the Missing Middle, where developers purchase multiple lots so that we can build at scale. This first infusion of our $1.25 billion investment for the West and South sides to build more homes, as well as to create economic opportunities, the first set of developers of the six, five of them are Black, two women. I'm serious about this.
And it's taking place in North Lawndale.
Mayor: The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came to the West Side to highlight the freedom movement around housing. And so the very place in which Dr. King ignited the effort of the freedom movement in the North, we are now moving in a very expedited way to build more homes in North Lawndale. The second place in Englewood, concentrating our development in our communities.
Now here's the thing, it does require a level of patience. And I know our people are eager. They want to see some of the immediacy around these investments. In order for these investments to outlast and outlive me, we have to go deep and wide. And so I'm grateful that I've had these 20 months of $20 billion of new investments particularly for our people.
One of the last things you mentioned is affordable housing. Often, when there is a lot of major development happening in an area, people tend to get priced out. They tend to get displaced. Can you talk about the United Center’s 1901 Project? How do you make sure people are able to stay when these developments happen?
Mayor: We're right to have that concern. One of the reasons why I've emphasized affordability so much, and working with Black developers, is to ensure that we develop without displacing people. So let's look at the 1901 project. That's a $7 billion investment for the West Side of Chicago. Now, the group has already committed to building 20% affordable homes. We're going to go further than that, though. The vice mayor [Ald. Walter Burnett] and I, because it's his 27th Ward, we've had conversations about pushing the affordability benchmark to go beyond the minimum, and that is something that I'm committed to doing.
What about people who are renting? Rent is high too.
Mayor: The key to affordability in the city of Chicago is to increase the actual product. And those are ways in which we will drive rent down, but also make it ultimately more affordable to purchase a home as well.
I want to bring up the $830 million bond deal. You just celebrated a win with that. Opponents are saying it's going to hurt us down the line. Proponents are saying that we need this right now. What is the bond deal and how does it impact Black people?
Mayor: Essentially, the issuance of this bond was for the infrastructure needs that we have. I was at a public forum a few weeks ago, a month ago, and a Black woman said, “Mayor Johnson, you either fix these streets or you gon fix my car.” And so this $830 million is an investment in our streets and our viaducts and bridges that we have to repair. Our lighting. This is all related to public safety.
There's more damage that awaits us if we don't invest in our infrastructure. I would much rather have to repair and strengthen a bridge then have to build a new one because it collapsed. And so that's all this bond does. The return on this investment is tremendous because it also puts people to work, and so it's going to increase more income tax being generated because you're going to actually put people to work to actually fulfill these projects.
Are there any misunderstandings about what today's mayoral power is? What are some of the biggest differences in what the mayor has control over today compared to in the past?
Mayor: The Office of the Mayor has tremendous power to improve the quality of life for people, hands down. Whether it's through our transportation system, our education system, our parks, libraries, schools, I have access to the ability to move a number of measures to help transform people's lives.
The difference in this particular moment is that those who used to have the power recognize that I know that the power exists, and they are working hard to create chaos in order to distract our people.
Is this the establishment?
Mayor: This is the old guard. It's the old machine. I mean, if you just — and I don't even have to name names — look at the people elected and non elected who opposed me. If you just go through that list, look at the folks who believe – whether they're doing their job or not– that they can do mine.
In other words, the Elon Musks of Chicago want the seat back, even if their name is not attached to it. They'll put somebody here who will do their bidding. If there was ever an example, and I say this with all due humility, if there was ever an example of a liberated Black man, it's me as mayor of Chicago. The very power structure, the interests of corporations that have controlled this city and have run it into the ground, they didn't help me get here.
You weren't hand picked by the people who we know to be the established Democrats of Chicago. How does your administration do things differently?
Mayor: How about I give you an example? So there's been a lot of discussion over the years around TIF dollars and TIF surplus, right? As an organizer, I would push previous administrations to release more TIF dollars, particularly surplus back into the taxing bodies. And every administration would come up with some ridiculous, raggedy excuse of why they couldn’t.
When I had the opportunity to declare a surplus to our public schools, community colleges, [or] our parks, I released the largest TIF surplus in the history of Chicago back to the taxing bodies. If there is a lever to pull that releases dollars into our communities, I'm going to pull that lever. That's the difference between me and other administrations. Other administrations were not just stingy, they were irresponsible with the tax dollars and the individuals who have been placed at the margins. They created living conditions that were horrific, and then blamed our people for the conditions in which they created that we were living in.
I have to mention migrants. How much money has your administration spent on migrants? I don't want you to compare it to how much money Black people have received, but can you talk about why it's important that you handled the situation the way that you did?
Mayor: Yeah, it's a great question. Let's start with just the crisis, the mission. When I came into office, these individuals were sleeping on floors in police districts and outside on the ground. Prior to me arriving, the state [was] putting these individuals in hotels, and the state pulled that money. And as busses continued to come, they just started dropping them off on police stations.
And the busses came from Texas.
Mayor: [It’s] not like I ordered them. It's not like I sent for the busses. The busses were already coming, and there was no plan at the state level, the county level, [or] the city level. There was no plan.
Within the first 20 minutes in office, I had to come up with a plan to respond to a crisis that I inherited. I [made] a moral decision to make sure that human beings were not sleeping on floors. Had I not managed this crisis, you know what they would have said about me? That the brother can't handle a crisis. Not only did we manage it, but we actually built a one system initiative out of this, where now we have city-ran shelters, where we actually have beds available for unhoused Chicagoans. In fact, when people call 311 seeking shelter, there's not a single family that's on the waiting list right now. We built that system out of a crisis.
We came up with this bus ordinance to stop [the] busses from coming unannounced. No one else in America had a plan for that. I came up with that. For four years, the amount of money that was spent was 1% of the overall city's budget. We have spent 20 times that amount on our people.
The reason why I believe that our people were frustrated about this mission is because that's the only thing that they were fed, and it was an intentional effort from mass media to make our people believe that the only thing that I was doing every single day was responding to this mission. They didn't want to talk about youth employment. They didn't want to talk about the Paid Time Off [ordinance], the largest paid time off ordinance in any major city in the country where workers have 10 days off. We abolished the subminimum wage [with the One Fair Wage ordinance]. [It’s] mostly brown and Black women who are in these positions. Oh, by the way, violence is down again already this year. Our people did not get the benefit of knowing what I was doing for our people, and that does anger me because it was intentional.
But the good news is it didn't break us. We are a welcoming city. We are attached to the history of Mayor Harold Washington and his corporate counsel [James] Montgomery, who understood that giving free reign to law enforcement to do anything that it pleased was dangerous, particularly to our people. And so I'm in a position now to continue to showcase how we show up for working people and particularly our families.
You’re getting ready to go to Washington D.C. There are organizers who are getting together this weekend to affirm you and to send you off. What does that support mean to you? Have you talked to some of those organizers who are coordinating this effort?
Mayor: It's quite comforting to know that our people understand that we cannot allow white supremacy to divide Black and brown people. The same colonizers that captured our people and put us in chains and enslaved us, were the same colonizers that robbed land from Indigenous people.
Donald Trump’s government is an attack on the evolution of our democracy, and that his effort is to get us to surrender our humanity. And as a Black man, I am not going to surrender to white supremacy. It is my cultural and Godly responsibility and duty in this moment to stand up on behalf of marginalized people and not succumb to the wickedness as I've described.
Mayor, we wish you luck and thank you again for your time. Have safe travels.
Mayor: Thank you.
