Chicago’s new Mayor Brandon Johnson paid a visit to the Illinois capital of Springfield to press the flesh and deliver a speech to the state’s general assembly. Johnson praised the state’s “progressive values” — or at least Chicago’s values. The rest of the state is rock-ribbed conservative and has rejected “progressive values” time and again.
But Chicago values dominate because Chicagoans vote Democratic in huge numbers. A Democratic candidate who can attract 70% of the vote in Chicago can generally win a statewide race.
And a lot of the money and political muscle that gives Democrats those huge majorities comes from one source; the Chicago Teachers’ Union. Not only do they contribute millions of dollars to elect the candidates they want, but they also send legions of volunteers into the city, knocking on doors, manning phone banks, and organizing rides to take voters to the polls — the CTU is a one-stop source for political action.
The teachers’ greatest triumph was electing their stooge, Brandon Johnson, as mayor. And now that he’s in office, there’s a lot of unfinished business that the radicals have with the city.
They want to tax the hell out of the rich — individuals and companies. The criminal justice “reform” begun under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot will be accelerated. Chicagoans got a taste of this new “reform” after hundreds of teens went on a rampage downtown assaulting terrified tourists, smashing store windows, torching cars, and generally wreaking havoc on the city’s downtown. The mayhem went on for three days.
Only 15 people were arrested.
Mayor Johnson issued a statement pleading with the media (and Republicans) not to “demonize” these young people who have been been “starved of opportunities in their own communities.” Johnson and the radicals won’t stop until criminal actions like this are normalized — perhaps even encouraged.
But as far as unfinished business for the radicals is concerned, the destruction of monuments of mostly great Americans is now being pushed by the city’s artistic community — with the backing of the teachers.
Following the 2020 uprisings, Chicago — as in other U.S. cities — saw a movement to address works of public art memorializing slaveholders, segregationists and colonizers. Mayor Lori Lightfoot created the Chicago Monuments Project to grapple with the history of these monuments while also figuring out how to make public space for new artworks.
Last August, the project’s advisory committee of artists and scholars released its report, complete with recommendations on what to do with statues like the Christopher Columbus monument in Grant Park that came down after activists and police clashed at the site during the 2020 protests. Lightfoot declined to endorse the recommendations and said more time and study was needed to make decisions.
The Columbus statue is a lost cause, now in storage — out of the way and out of mind. It’s almost as if Columbus never existed. Which is exactly what the barbarians at the gates want to accomplish.
It’s not just Columbus, of course. “Slaver” George Washington statues need to be addressed as well as some statues of Civil War heroes who may have fought for the North but failed to be enthusiastic in endorsing black suffrage or other issues 150 years ago.
But that still wouldn’t be enough. The statues coming down must be replaced with other “artwork” going up.
Attorney Joey Mogul leads the volunteer group Chicago Torture Justice Memorials (CTJM) and expects the incoming mayor to finally bring to fruition the memorial dedicated to survivors of police torture under the late disgraced police commander Jon Burge.
The memorial is part of legislation that passed in the Chicago City Council in 2015, but Mogul said the Lightfoot administration “dragged their feet for years despite our concerted efforts to meet with them and work with them to make this happen.”
Johnson’s public safety plan calls for “full funding and construction” of the Burge Torture Survivors Memorial. Nearly four years ago, a CTJM panel chose the winning design for the memorial: A 1,600-square-foot winding hallway featuring names of torture survivors.
As long as they didn’t stick it anywhere near the Gold Star Families Memorial and Park honoring fallen police officers, no one should care. That it will be an eyesore is a given. And the fact that it will be off the beaten path, far away from any other monuments, is a blessing.
Why it’s necessary to remember what no one in the city will ever forget is a mystery.