Just hours after President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice announced their investigation into Chicago City Hall’s race-based hiring practices, Mayor Brandon Johnson is now refusing to answer questions around his own admission that he intentionally hires black city employees for their skin color.
The embattled mayor is under fire for comments he made to an all-black church congregation over the weekend, where he admitted to intentionally hiring black people for high-level city official positions because black people "always look out for everybody else.”
“We are the most generous people on the planet. I don’t know too many cultures that have play cousins, that’s how generous we are. We just make somebody a family member. That’s just how we are,” Johnson, who is black, told the predominantly black congregation at the Apostolic Church of God in Woodlawn on Sunday.
He then listed off a number of top city officials who are black, adding that putting black employees in these positions will “ensure that our people get a chance to grow their business.”
One bold and fed-up Windy City resident confronted Johnson over his admitted race-based hiring criteria during a city council meeting Wednesday, flat-out asking Johnson if he considers himself to be a racist.
To which Johnson simply replied, “I reject the ideated the premise that that somehow, that that's an actual legitimate question.”
HOLY SHLIT
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) May 21, 2025
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson just got called out TO HIS FACE about his racist treatment of white residents pic.twitter.com/SCQx61O1Lh
The resident then asked what Johnson would say to Chicagoans who claim black residents have been prioritized and offered city benefits over white residents, simply because of the color of their skin.
To which Johnson again dodged the question, repeating that it was not “legitimate” and offering no further response.
Related: DOJ Investigating Chicago Mayor After He Admitted To Intentionally Hiring Black Employees
Of course, it should be easy to simply state, “We don’t hire people or prioritize residents on the basis of skin color, both because it's illegal and because it's wrong.
Then again, that would have to actually be true, and Johnson has already admitted it’s not.