{"id":679490,"date":"2026-03-25T00:15:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T00:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/679490\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T00:15:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T00:15:12","slug":"chicagos-human-rights-commissioner-resigns-as-johnson-defends-firings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/679490\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago’s human rights commissioner resigns as Johnson defends firings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another senior official is leaving Mayor Brandon Johnson\u2019s administration, even as the mayor on Tuesday defended his recent decision to abruptly fire two top aides<\/a> tasked with improving public safety.<\/p>\n

Human Relations Commissioner Nancy Andrade<\/a> will resign effective Wednesday from her role overseeing enforcement of the city\u2019s human rights and fair housing laws, Johnson spokesperson Erin Connelly confirmed Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Connelly did not offer a reason for the resignation. Andrade did not return requests for comment.<\/p>\n

The resignation comes after Andrade approved a plan last month, co-signed by Johnson, to address antisemitism<\/a>, according to Ald. Debra Silverstein, the City Council\u2019s only Jewish member.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has not implemented any of the recommendations, so we are still waiting,\u201d Silverstein said of the mayor. \u201c(Andrade) has always been an ally to the mainstream Jewish community and we are going to miss her quite a bit and are concerned about who is going to take her place and what it\u2019s going to mean.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report included recommendations such as establishing a task force to combat anti-Jewish hate, creating funding for security upgrades at Jewish institutions and implementing anti-hate curricula at city schools and colleges. Silverstein said the city\u2019s Jewish community \u201cdoes not feel that the city has their back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier Tuesday, Johnson defended his firing of Garien Gatewood, who was deputy mayor for community safety, and Manny Whitfield, a top aide to Gatewood, while the mayor promised to \u201cdouble down\u201d on his approach to combating violence.<\/p>\n

Gatewood and Whitfield played key roles in coordinating with police and community groups last year as Chicago saw a sharp drop in murders and shootings<\/a>. Johnson said at a City Hall news conference that the administration would continue its violence reduction efforts despite the firings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe we\u2019ve ever just simply singled out one individual as responsible, right?\u201d Johnson said. \u201cBecause that\u2019s not my orientation. It\u2019s a collective responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gatewood had been a regular presence at Johnson\u2019s news conferences, where the mayor frequently treated him as a trusted leader who touted the city\u2019s progress on violence reduction.<\/p>\n

In an interview with the Tribune on Tuesday, Whitfield echoed Gatewood\u2019s assertion that both men were told by top mayoral advisers that the administration would take the community safety office in a \u201cdifferent direction\u201d when they were dismissed.<\/p>\n

As Gatewood said in an interview on Thursday, Whitfield said his approach focused on in-person engagement throughout Chicago\u2019s neighborhoods \u2014 working closely and preemptively with neighborhood groups, responding to high-profile crime and collaborating with police.<\/p>\n

He said he believes his dismissal was tied in part to his on-the-ground work and his relationships with police.\u00a0While he emphasized that violence prevention efforts are \u201cnot contingent on two people,\u201d he warned that any substantive shift in strategy could jeopardize recent gains.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that we might not see the ramifications of that decision right now, but we will see it later on down the line if not next year,\u201d Whitfield said.<\/p>\n

\"Chicago'sThen-Deputy Mayor of Community Safety Garien Gatewood speaks at a news conference at Chicago City Hall on July 3, 2025, on the mass shooting outside of Artis Restaurant and Lounge in the River North neighborhood. Gatewood urged Chicagoans to come forward with any information about the crime. (Audrey Richardson\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Whitfield credited the approach he shared with Gatewood with helping prevent violence, including de-escalating large gatherings and showdowns between police and crowds.<\/p>\n

Ahead of an August mass shooting in the Austin neighborhood that left six wounded, one fatally, Whitfield said he pleaded with the event\u2019s organizer to cancel.<\/p>\n

\u201cHad we not been on the ground, things could have been 10 times worse,\u201d he said. \u201cResidents needed to see that we were all out there responding. This work is not easy, but I can tell you that we have gotten where we have gotten because of the response, because we have been so accessible to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pressed Tuesday on what change in direction he hoped to achieve with the firings, Johnson said he plans to continue and expand existing efforts. He cited city internships for Chicago Public Schools graduates, investment in community violence intervention and plans to address domestic violence as part of a broader strategy that moves away from \u201can oversimplified, misguided policy of locking people up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunity safety is still my top priority, and my focus is going to be doubling down on the efforts that have proven to be strong strategies,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

Even as he did not outline specific changes, Johnson downplayed the firings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not about just simply personnel decisions,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about people\u2019s real lives here, and that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to continue to focus in on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gatewood told the Tribune on Thursday that his firing \u201ccomes down to accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whitfield said Gatewood had filed complaints with the city\u2019s inspector general regarding two of Johnson\u2019s closest advisers \u2014 and added that he believes his firing was collateral damage after Gatewood was fired in retaliation for the complaint.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs somebody that\u2019s in close proximity to senior leadership, I became a threat,\u201d said Whitfield, who added that he had expected to be promoted this week while anticipating the departure of Jason Sanford, Gatewood\u2019s former first deputy, who is the community safety office\u2019s interim leader.<\/p>\n

The Tribune has not yet obtained any inspector general complaints filed by Gatewood. Such complaints are typically not publicly available during ongoing investigations.<\/p>\n

Whitfield also said he had planned to place an employee with close connections to top mayoral advisers on a performance improvement plan the day he was fired.<\/p>\n

A source in Johnson\u2019s administration argued Gatewood faced complaints about creating a hostile work environment. Gatewood has strongly rejected the charge, calling it \u201cdamage control\u201d by the mayor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

Asked Tuesday if his office foments a work culture where staffers are afraid of retaliation, Johnson retorted, \u201cClearly, they\u2019re not. Right? I mean, think about how many times you\u2019ve all covered this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat noise speaks to, I believe, a couple of things. One, we have created an environment where those who have bossed this city for far too long are now screaming and yelling,\u201d the mayor said, without elaborating on whom. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like they don\u2019t care who was in their seat. It\u2019s just a different name they get the boss. Not Brandon Johnson.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chicago Tribune\u2019s Alice Yin contributed.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Another senior official is leaving Mayor Brandon Johnson\u2019s administration, even as the mayor on Tuesday defended his recent…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":679491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,285915,5386,1818,36234,285916],"class_list":{"0":"post-679490","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-firings","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-illinois","12":"tag-mayor-brandon-johnson","13":"tag-nancy-andrade"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116286936006977209","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=679490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/679491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=679490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=679490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=679490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}