Chicago Mayor Johnson Needs to resign. Absolutely disgraceful.

Chicago Deserves Better: How Mayor Brandon Johnson Is Failing the People Who Need Him Most

By The Blue Magazine Editorial Board

Every day in Chicago, children walk to school having to watch their back — not because they did anything wrong, but because the city no longer protects them from assault, robbery, gunfire, drugs, and the criminal activity that has consumed so many neighborhoods. The sense of safety that once held communities together has been replaced by fear, and Mayor Brandon Johnson continues to look the other way.

Let’s be real — the families living on the South and West Sides of Chicago know this reality better than anyone. That’s where the crisis is. This isn’t Lincoln Park or the North Side, where people have the privilege of saying they don’t need help or protection. Those communities live in a different Chicago — one defined by fear, sirens, and survival. It’s easy to say you don’t need the National Guard from behind the comfort of safer neighborhoods. But residents in the South and West Sides know the truth. They need help. They need protection. They need leadership that truly cares for their community — not with speeches, but with action.

The South and West Sides are home to some of Chicago’s most diverse and resilient communities — neighborhoods made up primarily of African-American and Latino families who have carried the city on their backs for generations. These are the very residents suffering most from the violence and neglect. And that makes the current silence from City Hall even harder to accept. Leadership should understand their struggle, not distance itself from it. When minority communities cry out for safety and stability, they deserve more than slogans — they deserve results.

Mayor Brandon Johnson promised reform but has delivered instability. His words of compassion ring hollow as families continue to bury loved ones and neighborhoods remain terrorized by gangs and violence.

From his earliest days in office, Johnson’s approach to public safety has made one thing clear: the message is unmistakable — criminals are treated with empathy, while the men and women wearing the badge are treated with suspicion.

He has refused to allow Chicago police to cooperate with federal immigration agencies such as ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, making it harder to remove illegal immigrants. Whether one’s politics lean left or right, one truth is undeniable: that is the law. And if someone disagrees with it, then the debate should take place in Congress or the Senate — not on the streets. Laws are made to be upheld, and if change is needed, it must be done the right way.

Even the national police union publicly condemned reports that Chicago officers were told not to assist ICE agents, calling it a shocking departure from basic law-enforcement duty and a failure of leadership to protect its own. That criticism underscores how deeply trust has been fractured between City Hall and the very officers sworn to defend the city.

His leadership is negligent. He fears strengthening President Donald Trump’s law-and-order agenda by supporting federal enforcement or the National Guard, but the people of Chicago don’t care about political optics — they care about surviving the night. When law and order return, when criminals face real consequences, Chicago’s South and West Sides can finally begin to rebuild.

Each weekend, at least a dozen people are shot across the city — many of them in the same neglected neighborhoods. Some weekends, the toll climbs past thirty victims in just three days. Yet Mayor Johnson continues to deny the crisis that everyone on those streets already knows exists.

The results of these failures are visible everywhere. Carjackings, robberies, and shootings still haunt communities struggling just to survive. Businesses are shutting down under the weight of lawlessness. Families continue to walk the Chicago streets with fear, unsure of what each day will bring. The moral contract between citizens and government — to protect, to serve, to enforce — has been completely broken.

While officers remain sworn to protect those neighborhoods, too many now feel abandoned and misunderstood. These are the men and women who still put on their uniform every morning, knowing the risks and the weight that comes with that badge. What they want isn’t special treatment — they just want respect. They want to do their jobs without being treated like criminals for enforcing the law. Politicians should watch our officers’ six.

Mayor Johnson has often spoken publicly about his Christian faith, describing himself as a man guided by prayer and moral conviction. That makes the city’s growing crisis even harder to reconcile. Faith, at its core, calls on leaders to protect life — to act when lives are at risk. If even one child loses their life to violence that could have been prevented, then the mission of leadership — and the calling of faith — has fallen short. Compassion in words is not enough; compassion must lead to action.

Crime doesn’t fix itself; it festers where leadership fails. Every shooting, every grieving family proves that slogans can’t substitute for solutions. Real leadership restores order — not excuses chaos.

Chicago deserves leadership that stands shoulder-to-shoulder with its citizens and those who defend them. Real leadership protects the vulnerable, enforces the law without apology, and restores peace to every neighborhood — not just the privileged ones.

Until that happens, Chicago’s children will keep walking to school with fear in their eyes — and the nation must ask why one of America’s greatest cities continues to pay the price for failed leadership. Mayor Brandon Johnson is another disappointment. He should never be trusted with public office again after his disastrous failure as mayor of such a great city.

— The Blue Magazine Editorial Board

The National Independent Voice of Law Enforcement

Editor’s Note: This article reflects the opinion and editorial stance of The Blue Magazine Editorial Board. It is intended as commentary and analysis concerning current public policy and public-safety leadership in the City of Chicago.