Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson wants to provide opportunities for Blacks, but he is up against the Trump administration, which employs only one Black male in the cabinet among a sea of Whites, making Johnson’s comments sound like heresy, and the focus of a Department of Justice Investigation.

In a May 19 letter, Harmeet K. Dhillion, assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division, warned that Mayor Johnson was violating the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race.

A law school professor is quoted as saying Title VII doesn’t apply to political appointments, which Dhillion cited in her letter.

Dhillion mentioned that several high-level positions in the Johnson administration, deputy mayor, chief operations officer, have been given to Black men or Black women. 

“The deputy mayor is a Black woman. The head of the Department of Finance Development is a Black woman,” Johnson told parishioners. “When you ask, how do we ensure that our people get a chance to grow their businesses, having people in my administration that will look out for the interest of everyone, and everyone means you have to look out for the interests of Black folks.”

The DOJ cited their letter, saying if those hiring decisions are being made for top-level positions, “it begs the question whether such decisions are also being made for lower-level positions.”

The mayor countered.

Johnson said he would be “hard pressed to find qualified individuals who are in [President Trump’s] administration,” saying he remained “firm and steadfast” in his commitment to using the “incredible, diverse talent” in his administration to continue to lead Chicago to become the safest and most affordable big city in the country.

“My administration reflects the country and the city,” Johnson said. “His [Trump’s] administration reflects the country club.”

Mayor Johnson added that it reflected the diversity of Chicago.

“They would not be employees under Title VII, so even if it were true that he was going out of his way to hire people of a particular race, that would not violate the law,” reported Carolyn Shapiro, professor of IIT’s Chicago-Kent College of Law. 

Johnson’s team sent CBS News Chicago a breakdown of the racial makeup of his 105-member staff. According to the mayor’s office, 34% of employees are Black, 30% are White, 23% are Hispanic, 7% are Asian, and 5% are of two or more ethnicities.