YouSaid · the spoken record

Brandon Johnson

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52

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2023-04-27

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2023-04-27

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1. “Never be afraid to do a little bit of work. And he would always just say it's just work. It's just work. And so he's never had to run one of the largest economies in the world, but I'd keep the same mantra that it's work. And if we all do our part, I'm confident that we will fulfill the expectations that people have laid out for us.”

   2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

2. “And then I hope that over these next four years, we can run up the score. My father also would leave this great advice with me and my brother. And when he started to rehab homes, he used me and my brother Jeremy the most. He broke all childhood labor laws, right? It's probably the reason why I became such a strong unionist. If I could have organized that 10, I would have definitely taken my father out on strike. Maybe. He was a tough boss. But one day we were doing work and we didn't complete the task or we didn't do it to his expectation. And he looked at us and he said, sons.”

   2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

3. “I don't. I don't. I believe that our promises get to be as big as the city of Chicago. Now look, men, we're grown ups, and I do recognize that there are parameters in which we function in. And in some instances, it does It does lend to limitations. Now, if you ask me four years from now, I may have a different response. But I mentioned Karen Lewis at the beginning of this conversation. And I remember going in her office one particular day, and I had a rough one. And I fumbled. I'll say it like that. And she said, pick the ball up and keep running, Brandon. And I believe that's what the city of Chicago is poised and position to do. It doesn't mean that we won't ever, you know, make some mistakes or maybe we have some miscues along the way. But I don't think much about what we're not able to do. I think about just getting to the end zone.”

   2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

4. “It plays a huge role And my brother would be a grandfather today. And he's the person who played catch with me. My father was out, you know, working hard to raise us, right? And so, you know, Leon was almost like we would call Daddy A, you know, right? And so, you know, my motivation to treat trauma. My motivation to make sure that we're not criminalizing addiction has a lot to do with my own personal experiences.”

   2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

5. “Number of things And, you know, it's something that we're dealing with as a family as we're older and far more thoughtful about how we have a responsibility to not just be vulnerable, but to be responsive to those vulnerabilities that oftentimes, particularly in the 80s, Things were, it just, you didn't have the room and it wasn't safe always. How much”

   2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

6. “Leon, he was my hero. He's our oldest brother, first person to go to college. And he struggled with untreated trauma. And years ago, we didn't have the language that we have today. And so he suffered in silence.”

   2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

7. “Let's just take one plan that said it would generate twenty million dollars. If you don't like that plan, help me find $20 million. It's not that complicated. This is an idea that we get to debate over. Our values are our values. We don't negotiate our values. But we will negotiate the details of our presentation. And that's what the business community is excited about because they know I'm true to it.”

   2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

8. “Right. President Biden said that a teacher in a firefighter should not pay the same tax rate as a millionaire or billionaire. Like that's not a revolutionary idea. People looked at my budget plan as if it came out of somewhere out of space. It actually is a part of the democratic infrastructure that we believe in equity and justice. And those with means, they're not afraid to put more skin in the game. They just want to know that it's going to places that will yield the type of results that we want to see. And as far as the ideas that I've presented, here's what I've said repeatedly, David, and the business community is okay with it. If you don't like a particular plan that I've put forth,”

   2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

9. “Yeah, they're going well. Every single business leader that I've spoken to have said the same thing. How can we help? Or they've asked the same thing. How can we help? And quite frankly, the presentation of black labor white wealth was based upon a book that I was referencing. And it's a book that I would encourage people to read. Dr. Claude Anderson. And it really lays out what's manifesting today, that for every $1 that a white family earns in the city of Chicago, a black family earns one cent. A brown family earns eight cents. Here's Has to be stated and restated. It's a very basic democratic principle.”

   2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

10. “Of course, and that should be used to guide our instruction, not determine whether or not a child should be invested in. Because what we have done historically is that those assessments have determined whether or not a child school should remain open. So”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

11. “And so we have this narrow approach that our education system has subscribed to. And what I'm saying is the best way to determine the growth of our children is through not an achievement gap, but the economic gap that exists between our communities.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

12. “Rich portfolio of assessment that determines the viability of a child's not just proficiencies but their potential. So my son, Ethan, the middle child, brilliant. I mean smart, really smart. He doesn't know where the dirty clothes basket is, but he can balance equations. He's a critical thinker, just naturally gifted. My oldest son, who is highly intelligent, digital editing. He plays the violin. He's a great athlete. But his test won't always indicate that, especially standardized tests. My daughter, more artistic, she's a critical thinker, doesn't like bubble sheets, but she will write, she will draw it. Right? She will perform it.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

13. “Assessments give you a better understanding of how a child has progressed or what skill set they perhaps need more development around. It was never meant to punish anyone. And here's the part where I believe we've lost our way when it comes to public education and how standardized testing has been used to determine whether or not a teacher is worthwhile or whether a student is worthwhile. Because here's what standardized tests overwhelmingly tell us. They tell us more about the social economic status of a family than they do one's ability to actually be successful. And so testing should be used to assess progress to see where there are areas of growth that could take place. But ultimately how we determine it, David, is I believe in a full”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

14. “Well, listen, let me just say the standardized test, just understanding the history behind standardized tests, right? You know, this is built on the eugenics movement that was designed to prove that black people were inferior, right? So we have to have that direct honest conversation so that we do not look to these tests as a determinant for a child's development. Here's what testing should do because I am an educator. Right.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

15. “That now there could be a dynamic where you have to make some decisions where you have to shift or reshift or redirect services so that it makes absolute sense. I'm saying before we react, let's make sure that we put forth a plan, have community involvement to determine ultimately what should happen in that particular situation.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

16. “And so now you have the same ritual of disinvestment that continues to perpetuate without solving what ultimately is the cause of the flight or quite frankly the force out or quite frankly the removal of people. And so this is why I believe it's important that we commit ourselves to a moratorium because we have to reimagine our school communities and the usage of these buildings, right? When we talk about job training and economic opportunities that will be available through housing development, through the transformation of our infrastructure, are we utilizing our school communities to the capacity and the extent in which they could be reimagined? And I'm not saying I have all the answers. I'm saying that there has to be a community process to begin to assess.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

17. “Right, right. And so when you ask that question, I mean, I think the frame. Because where schools are more likely to be closed”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

18. “and a revival in the city of Chicago, we have to close the gap between graduation and economic opportunities. And those opportunities are and will be available. And sending children off to college, I know that's the goal for a lot of families. And we have to make sure that children who do not wish to go to college have training opportunities all the way up through community college that prepares them for the biotechnology, life sciences, logistics, all of these industries that are poised and prepared to set up shop here in the city of Chicago, that our education system prepares those individuals to experience the type of economic growth that will happen as a result of those industries.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

19. “First of all, I believe wholeheartedly in public education. I'm a product of the public education system. My children attend Chicago public schools. You know, again, maybe another sort of historical note here. I believe I'll be the first mayor of the city of Chicago who sends their children to the Chicago public schools. And so I'm deeply vested into our public education system. My desire, my vision for public schools in Chicago is to be really a world-class system that provides every single school community exactly what they need. And what that means is full wraparound services, the arts, of course that includes music, making sure that we have starting earlier. We're talking about, and I would prefer to start even as early as middle school, fifth and sixth grade, exposing our children to manufacturing as well as the trades. I mean, the type of infrastructure that needs revitalization.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

20. “Your job. Right now, we have supervisors who supervise the supervisors. You have police officers that will have a different supervisor, sometimes three to four in one week. Now granted, they all might be part of a cadre of law enforcement, but you know, every supervisor brings a different element, right? And so having some consistency around supervision is going to be important. And having a superintendent who understands what it means to be compassionate, collaborative, and someone who is competent, that's what I'm going to look for. And that's who we're going to find to serve as superintendent in the city of Chicago. And I'm very confident that we're going to find someone that gives confidence to the rank and file, but also understands constitutional policing.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

21. “So, someone that comes from the rank and file is going to be important. Look, here's what police officers should, why they should have some comfort with me on the fifth floor. It's because I know what it's like to serve on the front line as a public school teacher being asked to do your job in someone else's. Now granted, the job of police officer is far more dangerous than a teacher, right? But here we now have scenarios where, you know, teachers are also exposed to the type of trauma and violence that has broken out all over this country, especially with gun violence. And it taking place inside of schools. And so you're going to have someone on the fifth floor who understands the value and the importance of actually having clarity around.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

22. “We're going to hire more young people. We can do that immediately. Again, training and promoting 200 more detectives. You can do that a lot faster than having a rank and file officer from the very beginning of an application process showing up. I'm in the process of getting prepared for re-election by the time the first group of officers show up, right? And so as youth employment and really concentrating on youth employment. And I'm encouraged by the fact that you have corporations and businesses that are prepared and willing to lend support there. Every single agency, sister agency that we have jurisdiction over, prepared to make sure that we provide opportunities for young people. Again, 200 more detectives, making sure that the pilot program is expanded for mental health support so that we can have more smart strategic policing in the city of Chicago. These are the things that we can do immediately.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

23. “Well, one, I won't have to do it alone. That's the encouraging thing about this moment is that whether it's the faith community, CEOs, executives, owners, other elected officials, there are people who are committed to making sure that we have really a better, stronger, safer Chicago. And quite frankly, David, I don't believe that the vision that I have for the city of Chicago is a long-term plan. I've said this repeatedly. If it's really just simply about hiring more officers, it takes 18 months. To fully put an officer on the streets of the city of Chicago, that is more long term than mine. I'm saying double the amount of young people that we hire. And here's the thing, corporations are stepping up. They're making commitments.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

24. “They're being asked to do their job in someone else's. And here's more proof and evidence. The Los Angeles Police Department is an article March 23rd, I believe, the Los Angeles Times released an article. They didn't call it treatment not trauma. That's what we called it here in the city of Chicago, but it's the same idea where we need mental health support EMTs to respond to what ultimately 40% of the 911 calls are, which they're mental health crises. And so we're asking police officers to serve as marriage counselors, as social workers, mental health providers, and many of our police officers need mental health support themselves. I'm saying we need to alleviate and relieve police officers from the responsibility that we can actually have an entire industry provide support.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

25. “But he also think it's important to note what that resolution, David, is that that resolution spells out how the resolution you're”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

26. “Especially in the very neighborhoods where there is more of a propensity for the violence to take place, right? Like Austin, Garvin Park, Inglewood, Roseland.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

27. “No one disagrees that policing is necessary. The question is, do we have smart policing? And right now we do not. All right. You have a very reactionary approach while not addressing the root causes. And so this is why I've said repeatedly 200 more detectives that are trained and promoted so that we can solve crime.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

28. “Individuals, whether they're on the right, whether they take conservative views on public safety to present public safety through the lens of a more antiquated approach that has not proven to be effective, right? And that's, you know, locking people up and adding more police to the roles, if you will, where in the city of Chicago, we are spending more per capita than New York and Los Angeles. And those cities have less violence. And so when it comes to this particular, we do have a point.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

29. “Space in which it takes place, and its neighborhoods like the one I'm raising my family in. And so I believe over the last four years, 315, if not more, homicides have taken place just in Austin, my neighborhood. There are more homicides in my neighborhood than many of the other neighborhoods that people are concerned now have experienced combined, right? And so my philosophy is pretty straightforward. First of all, I believe that it's important that we recognize that we can run on our values, that we don't have to allow”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

30. “Well, I'm glad you said that because I actually had a number that was smaller. It's actually a little, it's a bigger number. It's reported that nearly 60% of the violence that occurs in the city of Chicago, it takes place in 6% of the city that with the reaction to the violence that has been pervasive, there is still a more hyper-concentrated.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

31. “Thank you. And thank you for slowing me down a little bit because it is something that because it has happened with such frequency, we don't slow down enough to really digest the trauma that comes with that and the conditions that break out as a result of that trauma. And it's real to me. It's real to my family and it's real to my neighbors.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

32. “It is. It's a real problem, quite frankly, unless another historian offers up a different perspective, I may be the first mayor to wake up in a neighborhood that is one of the most valid neighborhoods in the city of Chicago. I don't know if any other mayor has that story. And so I live it. We love Austin. My wife and I. We love raising our children in Austin on the west side of Chicago. It's a beautiful community and it has suffered tremendously because of disinvestment. And as a result of it, you know, the violence and the trauma that comes with poverty is playing out in the most gruesome of ways. And it's not just about schools being closed and mental health centers being shut down. It's the fact that there's just really limited opportunity there. And we've had gunshots right outside our front door. We've had to change a window from a gunshot.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

33. “You should really consider moving in this direction. It's a large district. It's city and suburban, healthcare, the criminal justice system, housing, all of these dynamics that we care about that we've been organizing around, you could carry out that vision politically, electorally running for this office. Well, the individual decided to run for re-election, but the people who had this conversation with me said, look, if you continue, we'll be there for you. And so it was a combination of the conversation opening up because of what was being contemplated by the incumbent. But it was also really motivated by the opportunity to really lay out a progressive, bold vision around healthcare, around housing, around our justice system. And at that moment, because of just”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

34. “Yeah, so we had a couple of, I would just say battles, political battles, to see how our organizing would how the electoral space would react to our organizing. People agreed with us, generally speaking, really in a very substantial way, what neighborhoods should have and what they should look like in order for equity and parity to really exist. The question was, could you get elected around those ideas? Like you can mobilize around those ideas, but can you get elected around those ideas? And, you know, I was approached and asked, like, would you consider? And at the time, the person who was in the seat was contemplating running for board president. And so it just opened up a conversation that would have otherwise never happened. And because there was that contemplation, folks were like, look, if this happens,”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

35. “That much more to engage more politically. Now remember I had served State Senator Don Harmon. I had served State Representative Deborah Graham.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

36. “And it wasn't something that I thought I was going to do permanently. You know, I thought, look, I'll become an organizer. You know, we'll fight for a good contract. We'll connect the schools to the school communities so that the learning conditions, the teaching conditions can be aligned. And then I'll go back to teaching. I'll get my PhD. I'll eventually become a principal. And then life will be good. What happened though was at the time in which we were organizing, As you know, David, you know, there was a lot of debate around the role of active unionism and social justice unionism. And as I begin to move around the entire city and really feel the stratified school district and the frustrations that parents had, it did provide”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

37. “Garfield Park, that community has been described as a developing nation because the violence and per capita reflects that. However, when you have a school district that selects who gets to have more access and then who is determined to have less access, that really began to frustrate me. My politics developed really while teaching in Cabrini. push or impetus to go into organizing was provocated by actually teaching in a selective enrollment school.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

38. “Well, the best job that I've ever had is still teaching seventh and eighth graders social studies and reading. I wanted an opportunity to teach at the high school level. Just because of the way the Chicago Public Schools operate, the departmentalization of middle school is something that we have not completely achieved. We've gotten better at it, but we do not have an official middle school model. It's sort of left to the local school to help adapt to that middle school model. And it's important that we have that model because there's a lot of research around the type of departmentalization and the adolescent development that occurs during that time period and how education plays a role in that. And so what caused the shift was once I left Jenner and taught at Westinghouse, you could see the stratification that exists within school communities. It wasn't just where affluent or wealthier residents live.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

39. “And they were looking for, yes, and she's an incredible woman, and of course I'm looking forward to having a little bit more discussion around her life and what led me into this row. But he reaches out to me because President Karen Lewis asked my buddy to come work for the Chicago Teachers Union. And my buddy, so he kept to the point. I mean, it was always our goal to become principals and maybe administrators, superintendents. And he's like, look, Karen, I'm not interested in working for the union. I'm still committed to becoming a principal, which he is today, by the way, at Westinghouse College Prep. He says, you should meet my friend Brandon. And then that's what led to me ultimately becoming an organizer.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

40. “The shift that was taking place in Cabrini Green, the New City YMCA was shut down and our state rep, Deborah Graham, was in need of a chief of staff. And so I was asked to do that work. And Senator Harmon has always said, you're the only person who gets into politics who tries to get out of it. Because I get hired by him, I leave, I go back to what is my passion. It gets interrupted again because of just, again, not enough resources. I become chief of staff for Deborah Graham. She's state rep while working on my master's degree to become a teacher because my desire is to get out of politics. And that is just really been the trajectory. Because once I become a teacher, a buddy of mine that I grew up with is a former student of Karen Lewis at Lane Tech.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

41. “And so I wanted to hold him accountable. And so I went to talk to him, what's your commitment to social services, education? And he said, here are my commitments. And he said, well, where are you working? And I said, I'm not working right now. And my good buddy, who was his chief of staff or district director at the time, basically said, no one comes into a political office that doesn't have a job, that doesn't ask for a job because that was never my intentions. And so, of course, he hired me and I was making, I won't tell you how much I was making because I don't want to embarrass Don right now. But working four hours a day in his office as constituent services, the director of constituent services. And, you know, then eventually I left his office because I went back to working for the new city YMCA, the YMCs of Chicago. And of course, the”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

42. “You know, I was unemployed at the time. Actually, had lost a job, and I was receiving some unemployment benefits. And so when I met Don at the time, I was frustrated because he ran unopposed. And I thought to myself, this is not democracy. Now, my opinions may have shifted a little bit.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

43. “So it was never a part of the plan, not at least the plan that I had written for myself. I always believe that I would eventually go into public education, teach, maybe run a school building, maybe even a school district one day. I mean, that's the trajectory that I believe that I would be most It would just be most beneficial. That's where my skill sets were. And here's how it went down, though. So working in non-for-profit world, the non-profit world, you know, money became very difficult for non-for-profit spaces to access, right? At that time, this up-and-coming state senator who represented Oak Park in the west side of Chicago, I went to go visit him because I wanted to make sure he was going to do right by the human services world.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

44. “Know we're sitting around her. And then me at 16 years old and my sister at 14, we would just come in and so casually and with some level of calm because we have gotten accustomed to it to help, you know, nurse her back. And it was very stressful at that time. And it's, again, another experience that has led me to fight for health insurance and public health because public health was very much part of my life when my father did lose his health insurance. And if it were not for public health, my struggle with asthma could have been far more severe.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

45. “Well, the illness was certainly a struggle because in the meantime, before the heart transplant, my mother had a defibrillator inside. And so her heart would just literally stop in the middle of a conversation. And, you know, it's amazing what how children will adjust and adapt to an environment. And so we had become accustomed to essentially, you know, losing not just consciousness, but leaving her body and the defibulator would eventually, you know, jumpstart her heart again. It would be scary for her. It was very scary for children and we had gotten so adjusted to it when we would have relatives over or friends over, you know, we would be upstairs or outside and, you know, one of my mother's sisters would be sitting with her and my mother would her heart would fail. All of the panic would just kick in with, you know, whomever.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

46. “she was young and it was a very difficult time for my family you know my mother had a rare heart disease and it came at a time in which my father was unemployed because he was fired from his state job and thank God for AFSME, his union that began to intervene and file a grievance. He eventually was restored but in the in that timeframe, we didn't have health insurance and because of this rare heart disease and my mother actually received a heart transplant and then her body just eventually rejected it because we just could not afford the medication to maintain her new heart. In fact, when I ran for a county board of commissioners, my siblings assumed this took place, but my father admitted for the first time that, you know, the medication that my mother was on, it was just so expensive.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

47. “Oh, absolutely. It's a big part of who I am. You know, there's a real strong tradition, particularly here in Chicago around, you know, black liberation theology, right? Where, you know, our faith is oftentimes expressed through the lens of our hopes for economic security and housing and healthcare, all the different things, of course, that I ran on that, you know, it wasn't I didn't have to be a part of a political wing of the Democratic Party to believe in and the type of justice that I speak of. I mean, this is a part of my faith, and I'm definitely tethered to it.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

48. “Exactly right. That's 50 members. That might be another podcast for someone else. But, you know, there were times, of course, where it was actually quite chaotic. And in retrospect, it's hard to even imagine how you survive those moments. You know, clearly we leaned on one another. My father's pastor, my grandfather is a pastor or was a pastor. My father has since retired from having served as a pastor for almost 40 years. And so we leaned on our faith, right?”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

49. “Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, with that many siblings, my parents were also foster parents. So there were times where, you know, our home, not quite the size of city council, but very few.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

50. “After I was elected and I attended both of those services, or those moments for me, it really began to sink in of the incredible responsibility that I do have. As mayor of the city of Chicago, where there are individuals who are on the front line every single day and it is their job to keep everyone safe at the expense of their own in these instances. And what an incredible responsibility to have. And I'm grateful to all of our first responders.”

    2023-04-27 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 531 — Brandon Johnson · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source