New Chicago school board president resigns after antisemitic remarks surface
Less than a month after being appointed, Chicago’s school board president, the Rev. Mitchell Ikenna Johnson, has resigned after his past antisemitic and misogynistic comments resurfaced.
Chalkbeat Chicago reports that Johnson’s departure comes less than a month after Mayor Brandon Johnson appointed him as part of a new board. Those appointments came after the entire board, appointed by the mayor, resigned en masse amid tensions between the mayor and district CEO Pedro Martinez.
The mayor says he asked for Rev. Johnson’s resignation and that he resigned effective immediately.
“Reverend Mitchell Johnson’s statements were not only hurtful but deeply disturbing,” Mayor Johnson said. “I want to be clear: antisemitic, misogynistic, and conspiratorial statements are unacceptable.”
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker had called for Rev. Johnson’s resignation.
Earlier this week, Jewish Insider reported that Rev. Johnson crafted more than a dozen Facebook posts with antisemitic statements following Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The board president had issued a statement apologizing. "“The remarks I posted were reactive and insensitive, and I am deeply sorry for not being more precise and deliberate in my comments posted last year,” he wrote.
