by Joseph Omoremi
CHICAGO, IL Mayoral candidate in the April 4 run-off election Paul Villas promised a bigger economic opportunities and inclusion in his administration for African and Caribbeans residents if elected as well as re-activate the defunct African Commission.
“The city budget is an equity agenda to provide contractual, employment and participation opportunites to all Chicago residents including minority groups,” he said adding “I’m a grand son of a great American immigrant” while meeting Thursday night with Africans and Caribbeans residents in Chicago.
Organized by the African Community Committee, Vallas also promised to re-activate the defunct African Commission started by former Mayor Daley to keep abreast of the needs of Africans in the city. Both late Dr. Nurudeen Olowopopo. And Dr. Ewa I. Ewa served in the commission before it was disbanded.
He urged them to look at his records as the CEO at CPS where minorities were included at all levels and explained that the target will be 50 percent for minority contracting and 22 percent for Blacks.
He also stressed the needs for sister cities between Chicago and major African and Caribbean cities to foster a good working relationships adding “I went to the state department to recruit teachers from Africa for six years during my time at CPS” which could be expanded as the Mayor of the city.
He encouraged them to support him because he said “I’m literarily running against the CPS and experience is needed to move the city to the next level. Vallas and Brandon Johnson came first and second to set the stage for a runoff to be the next mayor of Chicago after voters on Tuesday March 7, denied incumbent Lori Lightfoot a second term, issuing a rebuke to a leader who made history as head of the nation’s third-largest city.
Vallas, a former schools CEO backed by the police union, and Johnson, a Cook County commissioner endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union, advanced to the April 4 runoff after none of the nine candidates was able to secure over 50% of the vote to win outright.
Lightfoot, the first Black woman and first openly gay person to lead the city, won her first term in 2019 after promising to end decades of corruption and backroom dealing at City Hall. But opponents blamed Lightfoot for an increase in crime and criticized her as being a divisive, overly contentious leader.
She is the first elected Chicago mayor to lose a reelection bid since 1983, when Jane Byrne, the city’s first female mayor, lost her Democratic primary.
