Days after the Oct. 26 shooting of an Orthodox Jewish man in Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson was publicly rebuked for issuing a perfunctory statement that made no mention of the victim’s background and didn’t demand the incident be treated by police as a hate crime.

Anxiety among Chicago’s Jewish community has been aggravated by Johnson’s apparent insensitivity and indifference.

Johnson’s behavior is illustrative of how America’s current antisemitism epidemic is colliding with the laissez-faire public safety policies nationwide.

Since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, Mayor Johnson has declined to condemn displays of bigotry and refused to denounce elected leaders for their roles in anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish protests.

He unhesitatingly cast the tie-breaking vote on a City Council cease-fire resolution last January that condemned Israel while failing to lay out the depths of violence committed by Hamas.

He’s remained silent as his former employer and primary backer, the Chicago Teachers Union, hosted pro-Hamas demonstrations, ratified a Gaza cease-fire resolution, and orchestrated a “student-led” walkout to protest the war.

His behavior is emblematic of a problematic embrace of a far-left ideology nationwide in which there exists a hierarchy of oppressors and oppressed.

Black criminals, illegal immigrants, and Islamic terrorists are habitual victims while the U.S. government, the police, and Israel are callous oppressors.

Explaining his position on the Gaza resolution in January, Johnson went as far as to discuss the Israeli-Hamas conflict in terms of black “liberation.”

The left’s unhealthy oppressor versus oppressed outlook is similarly manifest in Johnson’s attitude toward public safety.

This belief system not only harms the Jewish community but all Chicago residents. And Chicago’s Black community is being hit hardest as crime spikes and there are fewer police on the streets.

This far-left ideology can also be recognized in Johnson’s support for Illinois’ pretrial release initiative, the SAFE-T Act. It ended cash bail and has returned thousands of accused violent felons and habitual offenders to the streets.

In Chicago, nearly 20% of felony arrests are of suspects out on pretrial release and then rearrested for new violent crimes. Every day, 90% of those who commit violent crimes are walking free on Chicago’s streets.

Between 2020 and 2024, 387 people awaiting trial for felonies while on pretrial release were arrested for murder or attempted murder. With police making arrests in fewer than 5% of non-fatal shootings and 33% of murders, that number is likely much higher. 

Johnson’s faith in this pernicious philosophy is further revealed by his degrading of the Chicago Police Department and eliminating 833 police positions. By his logic, the oppressive CPD deserves to be “defunded,” now standing at 1,700 fewer officers than pre-COVID levels. 

However, the tradeoff is the city now lacks enough police officers; only half of all high-priority 911 calls see a response and only 5% of violent crimes see an arrest. Cook County’s outgoing, woke state’s attorney, Kim Foxx, has failed to bring charges in felony arrests at three times the rate of her predecessor, while the pretrial release program has seen nearly three-fourths of those accused of violent crimes remain free.

In Chicago’s Jewish community, there has been a 74% increase in antisemitic incidents in 2023 and a 300% increase in 2024, according to the Anti-Defamation League; yet perpetrators are rarely prosecuted. 

This theory of oppressor versus oppressed is also found in Johnson’s decision to do away with the gunshot detection technology, ShotSpotter this past February.

His far-left supporters deem it racist, despite ShotSpotter being credited for saving 125 lives over the past five years, according to testimony at the 2023 budget hearing for the Chicago Police Department. 

Chicago’s so-called “progressive” leadership is just one manifestation of a national phenomenon among many major US cities in which the government fails to enforce laws consistently and uniformly, allowing crime and disorder to proliferate.

The same mentality produced New York’s criminal justice reforms such as bail and discovery reform, Raise the Age, and Less is More. Since their implementation, major felonies and misdemeanors have increased markedly in New York City.

All of this just as anti-Jewish hate crimes in New York surged 74% during the first nine months of this year.

The consequence is that criminals and those who engage in anti-social behavior are not held accountable. The far left sees perpetrators — such as marauding anti-Israel protestors —  as victims.

Meanwhile, the state targets law-abiding citizens with excessive regulations and punishments for minor infractions. 

Until Chicago voters and other major cities reject elected lawmakers and prosecutors who embrace this pernicious ideology, the very communities they seek to liberate from systemic violence, poverty, and self-destruction will continue to bear the consequences.

Unfortunately, the Jewish community is now among them.

Although the Chicago shooting suspect — who’s an illegal migrant — was ultimately charged with a hate crime, Johnson still has work to do. Most crucially, he must recognize that the intersectional framework with which he governs has created a hierarchy of more deserving and less deserving victims.

This must change for Johnson to be the mayor he was elected to be — one who prioritizes, protects, and serves all Chicagoans. 

Paul Vallas is a policy adviser to the Illinois Policy Institute and was the first CEO of Chicago Public Schools.