Human Relations Commissioner Andrade resigns after concerns antisemitism report draft was 'whitewashed'

Chicago’s human relations commissioner has resigned to protest what critics contend was an attempt by Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration to whitewash a long-awaited report that was supposed to focus solely on antisemitism.

Johnson’s relationship with many Jewish leaders has been strained ever since he cast the tie-breaking vote in favor of a nonbinding resolution demanding a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict. Nancy Andrade’s resignation to protest the attempted whitewash could bring the situation to a boil.

Human Relations Commission member Dan Goldwin said the report triggered by a 58% rise in reported anti-Jewish hate crimes from 2023 to 2024 was completed and focused solely on the surge in incidents of antisemitism in Chicago — and what to do about it.

But when the report was forwarded to the mayor’s office in November, a consultant was hired to alter the report and turn it into a broader document on all hate incidents, Goldwin said.

“The mayor’s office sent back an edit of it that completely whitewashed it… They had just crossed off anything that had to do with anti-Jewish hate crime and just made it an all-lives-matter” report, said Goldwin, who also serves as chief public affairs officer for the Jewish United Fund.

“The commission said no… We wouldn’t do it. That’s why we voted as a commission in early February to send our original draft back to the mayor.”

Goldwin described Andrade as the “loudest and clearest voice that was standing up to what was happening to the Jewish community in the city of Chicago.”

“It’s a real loss that she’s gone,” Goldwin said.

Johnson's communications director Erin Connelly denied any attempt by the mayor's office to whitewash the report.

Andrade did not return repeated phone calls. Her resignation letter does not make reference to the original report on antisemitic hate or the changes that the mayor’s office tried to make.

It simply describes the role that the Human Relations Commission is supposed to play as a “beacon of light that gives hope to all Chicagoans who have experienced the darkness of hate,” and that offers “justice to all who have experienced the humiliation and trauma of discrimination.”

“As the head of the CCHR, but also as a licensed attorney, I took an oath to uphold these values, as well as a strict code of ethics. My resignation is in service of that oath,” Andrade, a holdover from former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration, said in the letter.

“The CCHR is the civil rights agency for ALL of Chicago. It is my sincere hope that the CCHR and its Board continue to focus on addressing the impact of antisemitism as well as all other forms of discrimination in our city,” she wrote.

Ald. Debra Silverstein (50th), the City Council’s lone Jewish member, was among the Jewish community leaders who showed up in force at the Feb. 11 Human Relations Commission meeting demanding that the commission approve the unedited version of the report, which focused solely on the surge in antisemitic hate in Chicago.

“They did. They voted on the original version — not the mayor’s version,” she said.

“That’s the report that was sent to the mayor’s office and is still currently sitting on his desk. He’s done nothing about implementing any of the recommendations about setting up a task force, about education” and other changes proposed to protect Jewish Chicagoans.

Silverstein said the Jewish community has “not felt protected” by the Johnson administration “for a while now,” and Andrade’s resignation will exacerbate those tensions.

“We actually feel very alienated and the mayor has done nothing over the last several years to make us feel protected. This is just one more thing that is showing us that the mayor doesn’t have our back,” Silverstein said. “Nancy has been a very strong ally to the Jewish community, and I’m concerned about her replacement and how that’s going to affect the Jewish community going forward.”

Johnson got off on the wrong foot with Jewish leaders by casting the tie-breaking vote on the ceasefire resolution. The relationship was further strained by Johnson’s refusal to fire his chief lobbyist Kennedy Bartley and remove Ald. Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez (33rd) as chair of the City Council’s Committee on Health and Human Relations for their social media posts viewed by Jewish leaders as antisemitic.

The mayor initially defended his appointment of Rev. Mitchell Johnson as president of the Chicago Board of Education, only to have Johnson resign the following day after antisemitic comments were found on his social media pages.

Yet another chapter was written last year when Johnson refused a demand made by a City Council majority to condemn as antisemitic a piece of artwork on display at the Chicago Cultural Center titled “U.S.-Israel War Machine.” The Council majority wanted the artwork removed.

It featured a puppet branded “Uncle Sam” with blood on his face wearing a T-shirt that includes a tank, the word “money,” a dollar sign and the words, “Thank You” with a smiley face. Standing next to the Uncle Sam figure was a puppet of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with blood on his hands.

Next to the second puppet’s hand was an MK-84 aircraft bomb on a stick, with smoke coming out of the explosive device. The artwork also featured a bucket labeled “TEARS” with four oversize drops coming out of it. Wooden posts supporting the puppets include the words “child killer.”

"I’ve seen very provocative artwork that depicts slavery. I’ve seen artwork where a noose with the colors of the American flag were gripped around a Black man. Very provocative,” Johnson said then.

“It’s important — particularly at a time when history and culture is being threatened and undermined — that we don’t find ourselves exacerbating the attempt to silence the voices of individuals that speak their truth through their lived experiences... To have any discourse shut down is something that we should be very wary of.”