The U.S. Department of Justice has officially launched an investigation into the city of Chicago's hiring practices, following allegations that decisions may be based primarily on race. This inquiry was prompted by comments made by Mayor Brandon Johnson highlighting the number of Black officials within his administration. According to a CBS Chicago report, the investigation was triggered by a letter from Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon to Mayor Johnson accusing the city of potential Title VII Civil Rights Act of 1964 violations in its hiring.
The letter, which was sent on Monday, refers to remarks Mayor Johnson delivered at the Apostolic Church of God in Woodlawn, where he pointedly "highlight[ed] the number of Black officials in [your] administration," as stated by CBS Chicago. Quotes from the event, now inaccessible through the original MSN.com URL, were cited as evidence by Dhillon.
Dhillon's correspondence spelled out positions in the mayor's administration held by Black individuals, including deputy mayors for Business and Economic Neighborhood Development, Department of Planning and Development, Infrastructure, as well as the chief operations officer, budget director, and a senior advisor. As per ABC7 Chicago, Johnson contended at the church service that his actions were rooted in a communal ethos, stating, "when you hire our people, we always look out for everybody else. We are the most generous people on the planet."
Scrutiny of these hiring practices questions not only the process for selecting top-level officials but raises concerns about whether similar bias could extend to lower-level city positions. "If these kind of hiring decisions are being made for top-level positions in your administration, then it begs the question whether such decisions are also being made for lower-level positions," Dhillon wrote, ABC7 Chicago noted.
