Gary Langfield 
Recently I stepped into Chicago’s City Hall for the first time. The visit was for a sit-down interview for the From The Go Show with Mayor Brandon Johnson where we talked about solutions to some of the most pressing issues in our city right now.
Going into this conversation with the Mayor, it was clear that he valued the youth perspective. Before we went into his office for the interview, he was meeting with his Youth Commission.
Chicago Mayor’s Youth Commission consists of 40 Chicagoans from ages 14-19, who advise the Mayor about issues that are impacting them. The commission has four separate groups targeting core problems in the city: Education, Community Safety, Public Health and Neighborhood Development.
The day True Star interviewed him was the same day as the No Kings Protest, so our first question was about his ICE Free Zone, an order he passed to stand against ICE agents. Mayor Johnson said, “I’m not going to allow ICE agents to use city property to carry out what I believe is an unconstitutional and unholy mission.”
Seeing Mayor Johnson stand against what Trump is doing in office was empowering. It lit a very democratic fire under me, especially with the spirit of the No Kings protest that was going on.
When asked what he was going to do about Trump withholding millions of dollars from CPS’ Black Student Success Plan, Mayor Johnson said, “I released my budget address where I declared the largest tiff surplus in the history of Chicago, which is a billion dollars, 52% of that is going to go to our public schools.”
After bringing up the fact that Trump denied CPS millions, Mayor Johnson, a former social studies teacher, said, “He’s declared war on our city.” Unfortunately, Mayor Johnson isn’t crazy when he says this, given the remarks that the President has said about our wonderful city.
On social media, President Trump said, “Chicago’s about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR.”
The whole point of True Star getting a sit down with Mayor Johnson is to be able to activate young people’s voices across the city. We want to hear how he plans to empower us to be the true next generation of leaders.
I asked Mayor Johnson to get into specifics about investing in Chicago’s youth. He replied by saying, “We put forth a community safety fund and we’re gonna challenge these large corporations who just received tax cuts to put more skin in the game.”
He then said, “With this community safety fund we have dedicated $50 million to keep investing in youth employment and not just for summer positions but year round positions.”
Talking to the Mayor and listening to solutions rather than problems was refreshing to hear. I’m excited to see the results of the solutions he laid out in our conversation, and he has my support in getting it done.
Special thanks to Mayor Johnson for his time and all the work he’s done to make sure Chicago remains the best big city in the country.
By Gary Langfield Jr.
Instagram: @ima_menace21
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