Let’s be clear, addressing the injustices of and remnants of slavery is a serious issue. But using race and racism to explain away every problem, respond to every criticism and justify every failure only serves to cheapen the argument for any type of reparations. That’s exactly what Mayor Johnson has done with every problem plaguing Chicago and the Black community. Mayor Johnson’s “Reparations” gambit is nothing but a political ploy to put his critics on the defensive, and to regain support in the Black community that feels the Mayor’s migrant policies have left them behind.

While the Mayor “apologizes on behalf of Chicago for historic wrongs committed against Blacks in Chicago”, who is he apologizing for? Does it include the half of all Chicagoans who were not born in the city or the two thirds of Chicagoans who are either immigrants or the child, grandchild or great grandchild of immigrants. Or the 35% of Chicagoans who are white, descendants of immigrants, many whose ancestors themselves were victimized. My Greek immigrant grandparents, for example, descended from Greeks who endured 400 years of Ottoman Turkish oppression.

It is clear that he is not apologizing for the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) leadership, which since 2010 has systematically degraded a school system that is overwhelmingly Black, Latino, and poor through a series of strikes and work stoppages. Including forcing the district to close campuses for 78 weeks and denying poor families private and public-school alternatives to their often-failing neighborhood schools. This has had devastating consequences not only academically but also on youth health and safety.

He is not apologizing for his defund the police supporters, who have been responsible for a reduction of almost 1,700 police positions. This resulted in not enough officers to respond to half the 911 calls and not enough detectives to clear almost 95% of violent crime cases. This has particularly devastated the Black community who constitute 80% of murder victims and Black women who constitute a shocking 30% of all violent crime victims.