Chicago Human Relations Commissioner Nancy Andrade resigns amid friction with mayor's office
A week after Mayor Brandon Johnson fired two of his top community safety leaders, another senior staffer is leaving his administration.
Human Relations Commissioner Nancy Andrade resigned Wednesday from her role overseeing the office that enforces human rights and fair housing laws in the city.
Andrade's resignation comes amid friction between the mayor's office and the Chicago Commission on Human Relations on matters related to the city's Jewish community.
Last year, triggered by a 58% spike in anti-Jewish hate crime in Chicago, the commission – with Johnson's blessing – held a six-hour hearing on antisemitism and worked to create a report with recommendations for tackling the problem.
But commission members said the mayor's office tried to water down the report, and never put its suggestions in place. Now Andrade has resigned.
"The sequence of events certainly suggests heavily that there is a relationship between the report that was unsuccessfully interfered with by the mayor's office and her resignation," said Rebecca Weininger, senior regional director of the Anti-Defamation League Midwest.
The commission's report was based partly on heart-wrenching testimony at a six-hour hearing on antisemitic hate crimes in Chicago.
A former Chicago Public Schools student testified about being attacked at school because she is Jewish.
"One boy shouted 'Free Palestine' at me, and another cut a chunk of my hair. He fist-bumped his friends after assaulting me. The teacher did nothing. My CPS teacher did not keep me safe in the classroom," said the girl, now a 10th grader at Ida Crown Jewish Academy in Skokie.
Eitan Bleichman, an Orthodox Jew, told the commission how he was shot while walking to a synagogue in West Ridge in 2024.
"I was targeted solely because I was Jewish. I was dressed in a suit and tie and kippah, no different than I am today, and shot while walking to synagogue," he said.
Insiders said the mayor's team wanted to remove the term "Anti-Jewish" from a recommendation to create a mayoral task force to address the issue. In the end, "Anti-Jewish" remained in the report, but to date none of the report's recommendations have been put in place.
"The mayor is continuing to let us down and to disappoint us; us meaning the Jewish community. We have yet to see him do anything that leads us to believe that he cares about us as a community," said Ald. Debra Silverstein (50th), the only Jewish member of the City Council.
Johnson on Wednesday defended his handling of the report.
"I commissioned the report in the first place, called for a public hearing. I've directed my police superintendent to give special attention, particularly in areas where the Jewish community has been most vulnerable. That is action," Johnson said. "I will continue to lead with that conviction."
How the handling of the report factored into Andrade's departure is unclear. She did not specifically mention the report in a statement on her resignation:
"I applaud the phenomenal CCHR team for their tireless work. CCHR is a beacon of light that gives hope to all Chicagoans who have experienced the darkness of hate. It 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.
"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."
Johnson signaled that the suggested removal of the words "Anti-Jewish" from the commission's report was to find solutions to hate against all groups, but for a task force focused on anti-Jewish hate, it was not received that way.
Andrade told the mayor she is also resigning to help with some family needs. She did not respond to a request for an interview regarding her resignation.