Top Chicago Official Resigns as Mayor’s Office Accused of ‘Whitewashing’ Antisemitism Report

The resignation of the top official overseeing discrimination complaints in Chicago has intensified scrutiny of the city’s handling of antisemitism, following a contentious internal debate over a high-profile report on anti-Jewish hate.

Nancy Andrade, who had served as Chicago’s human relations commissioner since 2021, stepped down this week after months of disagreement between the city’s Human Relations Commission and the administration of Mayor Brandon Johnson over how to frame findings related to a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents. Andrade accused the administration of purposefully watering down the report to minimize the soaring antisemitism within the city. 

“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],” Human Relations Commission member Dan Goldwin told the Chicago Sun-Times.

The report at the center of the dispute was initially commissioned in response to a significant increase in anti-Jewish hate crimes between 2023 and 2024. Reports indicate that anti-Jewish incidents increased in Chicago by 58 percent in the timeframe. Early drafts focused specifically on antisemitism and included targeted recommendations aimed at addressing threats faced by Chicago’s Jewish community.

However, according to multiple local media reports, the mayor’s office pushed to revise the document, broadening its scope to include all forms of hate-based discrimination rather than isolating antisemitism.

Ald. Debra Silverstein, who is a Jewish member of city council, echoed these sentiments, suggesting that the mayor’s office obscured the extent of the antisemitism problem in Chicago by burying the report. 

“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,” she told the Sun-Times. 

“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 added.

That shift sparked backlash from some members of the commission and Jewish community leaders, who argued that expanding the report’s focus risked diluting the urgency and specificity of anti-Jewish hate.

City officials have defended the revisions, saying the administration sought a more inclusive framework that addresses hate crimes across multiple communities. Some also raised concerns that elements of the original report could be perceived as divisive.

Andrade’s resignation letter did not explicitly reference the report controversy. Instead, she cited a commitment to ethical leadership and the mission of combating discrimination. Still, her departure is widely viewed as connected to the internal conflict over the report and broader tensions within City Hall.

The dispute comes amid ongoing friction between the Johnson administration and parts of Chicago’s Jewish community, particularly over how the city has responded to rising antisemitism and broader issues tied to global conflicts. Johnson, a stalwart progressive, has been vocally critical of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, publicly accusing the Jewish state of committing a so-called “genocide.” He has also appeared alongside several anti-Israel figures in the two years following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in the Jewish state.

Johnson also refused last year to condemn a piece of artwork depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with blood smeared on his face and hands while wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the word “money,” angering members of the local Jewish community for perpetuating antisemitic tropes. Johnson defended the artwork as “provocative” and drew parallels with the black American experience. 

“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,” he said. 

Further, Johnson also sparked ire among the Jewish community in 2024 when he released a statement acknowledging the murder of a local Orthodox Jewish man without mentioning his faith. 

“On behalf of the City of Chicago, our heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the victim and his loved ones from this weekend’s shooting incident that took place in Rogers Park,” Johnson wrote on X. “This tragic event should have never happened, and we recognize the dedication of our first responders who put their lives on the line during this shooting.”

Johnson also donned a Palestinian keffiyeh last spring to commemorate Arab American Heritage Month, drawing outrage from Jewish organizations in the Windy City. He invited the controversial Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), an organization embroiled in controversy over its alleged ties to terrorism, to attend the ceremony.