(The Center Square) – Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has signed an executive order to create a Reparations Task Force.
Johnson said he was proud to sign the order to develop a Black Reparations Agenda.
“Thank you very much. God bless you. And God bless the Blackest city in the world, the city of Chicago,” Johnson said.
Jeff Fiedler of the Chicago Republican Party said the reparations issue is probably going nowhere.
“When the mayor announced that he wanted to do a reparations task force, you could hear a couple million eyes rolling in the city of Chicago. This has failed on so many levels. It’s failed in San Francisco. It’s failed in other places, because it’s all talk. It’s all virtue-signaling,” Fiedler said.
Fiedler noted that the mayor has lost support in the Black community and in other minority communities.
The city council budgeted $500,000 to study reparations in the current fiscal year. The study is set to begin ahead of the November elections.
Citing systemic racism in previous administrations, Johnson said his administration will work with the City Council Black Caucus and dedicated allies to rectify decades of deliberate disinvestment in Black communities.
“We saw the harm when previous administrations sold off public assets. We saw the harm when previous administrations closed Black schools and they shut down public housing, when they raided the pensions,” Johnson said.
Chicago Republican Jeff Fiedler said Johnson and Chicago Democrats are trying to change the narrative in communities where the mayor has lost support.
“They’re all trying to reshape their image right now, five months before a national election, which could have a major impact on what’s happening in their world and what’s happening in our world. We all live in the city and work in the city as well,” Fiedler said.
