Newly appointed president of Chicago education board resigns amid uproar over antisemitic social media posts

[Behind the Aegis]

The newly appointed president of the Chicago Board of Education has tendered his resignation after coming under fire for past antisemitic and conspiratorial social media posts.

The Chicago Sun Times reports that Rev. Mitchell Johnson’s decision came at the request of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (no relation).

A day earlier, the Chicago mayor had defended the embattled CBE president, saying he had “expressed sorrow and is seeking atonement.”

But the mayor apparently shifted his approach after Illinois Governor JB Pritzker joined the super-majority of Chicago council members who called for Johnson’s ouster.

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[Sympthsical]

1. Reminds me of this shitshow many, many moons ago

This was in the 00's when I was still a young LGBT activist type in Chicago.

https://forward.com/news/6669/illinois-commission-roiled-over-nation-of-islam-ta/

I remember this, how people bent over backwards to defend it or paper over it like the mayor tried to do here. Then the gays got involved (which is where I came into it), because guess what? Antisemites usually don't like gay people either. Quelle shock. It was an incredibly formative experience for me in how I view antisemitism on the Left and how intertwined it is with homophobia and oppression of other minorities in the name of anti-oppression. What ended up happening is the Jewish and LGBT communities started getting called racist for challenging NoI and Farrakhan and not putting up with it anymore.

Chicago has some tricky, tricky politics with antisemitism. But because it's not seen quite as heavily Jewish as places on the East Coast - and because there are heavily racialized components - it gets elided over more easily. But it's always been roiling just under the surface (and the NoI has always been underlying a lot of the stuff).

I can't believe I'm still discussing this shit in 2024, but here we are.

[yardwork]

2. Jewish people are a tiny minority, so they're easy to attack.

They've been oppressed for over 2,000 years, but they persist.

I remember back in the 80s seeing a flyer left on my windshield from a NC Klan. Evidently they were having recruitment problems. The flyer stated that, ok, maybe Black people and Catholics weren't all bad, so the Klan was getting back to basics and focusing on the "true enemy" - the Jews.

It's pretty easy to get a lot of people riled up against Jews because most people are not Jewish. Simple as that. It's always easy to punch down.

[Sympthsical]

3. And it's easier to be tribalistic about it

LGBT are trickier. We're like weeds - we crop up everywhere. Even the most homophobic family can have LGBT family members. Poof, there we are. And that can change views and diminish hate by virtue of our very existence. My more religiously conservative Catholic parents went from having a very hard time when I came out to being extremely chill with gay people over the years.

With Jews, it's so easy to see them as an other and keep them as an other. No one's 13 year old is suddenly having a sneak attack bar mitzvah out of the blue. "L'chaim, assholes!" Doesn't happen.

My Filipino in-laws were not thrilled with me. They're very clannish and Catholic. "You're gay? And dating a white guy?!" Tch. I'm Irish Catholic. I am the white guy. Now MIL is always over because she seems to think our lumpia stores are forever in danger of depletion.

People just need to get tf over it already. So tired of seeing this shit. Particularly from "progressives" whose hierarchy of oppression seems to exist purely so they can reference who they get to oppress that particular week.

Political and ideological coalitions can fall apart just like that, and I have definitely been feeling tested about my own this past year.

[EllieBC]

4. It's the fact that we persist that

pisses people off the most. A tiny sliver of the population that beats the odds constantly. And not only beats the odds but also does well as a community.

[yardwork]

5. I don't get the hate.

I have nothing but admiration for the Jewish faith and culture, which seems to me to avoid much of what I dislike about Christianity (proselytizing, focusing on guilt, coercive control, threats of damnation...) and emphasizes instead a lot of laudable goals (literacy, arguing with God, celebrations of life...)

Why wouldn't people celebrate a tiny minority that beats the odds? The rest of us could learn a lot from that.

[EllieBC]

6. Because we don't need outside help to beat the odds.

We don’t need the white knights and do it on our own.

There’s always been a need by some people in politics to be “needed.” Jewish communities don’t need protesting college students or activists who can’t stick to a cause.

[yardwork]

8. That's interesting.

Having grown up in Christian traditions, I can say that one of the hallmarks of the religion is resentment and a preoccupation with victimhood. The entire religion is based on Jesus's supposed victimization. (I don't understand that because, according to scripture, Jesus chose his fate, making him a hero, not a hapless victim. Nonetheless, the focus on victimhood and martyrdom is strong with many Christians. It's a bore.)

You make a good point that Judaism doesn't focus much on victimization, despite having a very good case to do so. Maybe that's why Israel has such a poor PR strategy.

[EllieBC]

10. I really do think that's why their PR is so bad.

We never ask to be perceived as helpless victims. We fight back when we can and that’s not an admirable trait to those wanting to white knight.

[EllieBC]

7. Also we have plenty of damnation

but we reserve it for our own circles. Jews will fight each other for years over how strict or leniently a religious law should be interpreted but will quickly come together if someone outside has a damn thing to say it about it.

We are pretty mean to each other though sometimes.

[yardwork]

9. People are pretty mean to each other, and the worst wars are civil wars.

I don't know why we act this way. Other animals don't.