Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson confronted by reporter about his racism against white people

"I'm more than happy to ask this question," the reporter said. "It's long overdue. For over a year, real Chicagoans, white and black, have been telling me that your Black Power rhetoric is bringing the city backwards from a place that it had overcome."

"We need the question," the aide said again. 

"Real Chicagoans want to know: why are you a racist?"

"Well, you know, first of all, I reject the idea, the premise that somehow, that that's a legitimate question," Johnson replied.

"Wanna bet?" The reporter asked.

The aide asked for the next question, but the same reporter was ready with a follow-up.

"The next question, my follow-up question is, is a businessman, Robert Gomez, had his riverfront restaurant license yanked," the reporter asked. "You said that the reason you hire black people is because they're the most generous race on the planet. His riverfront restaurant license was yanked and given to a black restaurateur that seems to— that has, once again, reinforced the belief among real Chicagoans, white and black, that you are a racist. What do you say to those people?"

"Again, I reject the premise that somehow, that your question has any legitimacy, thank you for your time, sir," Johnson said.

In April, Gomez spoke to local news, and said his restaurant, Beat Kitchen, had generated some $3 million annually. He's had the restaurant under a five-year lease and had only been operating for three years after the first two years of the lease were taken up with delays.

He applied for the lease again at the renewal point and competed against one other applicant. He was not permitted to keep his restaurant open during the renewal period as "the process dragged on for months, and the space remained closed for the entire 2023 season." 

Chicago took the lease from Gomez and gave it to someone else. Gomez told ABC he didn't know why he was passed over and his lease revoked and called out the lack of transparency of the lease-award process. He asked the city for a briefing but was told that wasn't possible until after the lease was awarded to another person. 

"The purpose of the RFP process is to ensure that Chicagoans benefit from a competitive bidding process that takes into account a number of factors. Unfortunately, this applicant was not selected for a renewed concessions agreement based on the assessment by the Evaluation Committee," the evaluation committee said.

The Department of Justice is now investigating "the employment practices of the City of Chicago, Illinois, to determine whether it has engaged in a pattern or practice of racial discrimination, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act."

That investigation "is based on information suggesting that [Johnson has] made hiring decisions solely on the basis of race." The letter from the DOJ addresses Johnson directly, saying, "In your remarks made yesterday at the Apostolic Church of God in Woodlawn, you 'highlight[ed] the number of Black officials in [your] administration.' You then went on to list each of these individuals, emphasizing their race."

The DOJ lists his remarks:

• "Business and economic neighborhood development, the deputy mayor is a Black woman."
• "Department of planning and development is a Black woman."
• "Infrastructure, deputy mayor is a Black woman."
• "Chief operations officer is a Black man."
• "Budget director is a Black woman."
• "Senior advisor is a Black man."

"Considering these remarks," wrote Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon, "I have authorized an investigation to determine whether the City of Chicago is engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination as set forth above. 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."