Ald. Greg Mitchell (7th), shown at a January 2023 Chicago City Council meeting, is accused by Ald. Desmon Yancy (5th) of assaulting Yancy after a Council meeting last week.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Ald. Desmon Yancy (5th) on Tuesday accused Ald. Greg Mitchell (7th) of attacking him after last week’s City Council meeting and demanded that Mitchell resign from his three City Council leadership jobs.
In a letter to Black Caucus Chair Stephanie Coleman (16th), Yancy said he was the “victim of an unprovoked assault” by Mitchell in what was “part of a pattern of intimidation and violence” Mitchell has “become associated with since last fall.”
“This behavior is not only unacceptable, it is an indication that he is unfit for leadership,” Yancy wrote in the letter, which was distributed to all Council members.
“In today’s current climate, political differences have devolved into name calling and violence toward elected officials. It is equally out of order that an elected official would resort to violence during a disagreement with a colleague.”
Yancy demanded that Mitchell step down as chair of the Transportation Committee and vice chair of the Housing Committee and the Council’s Black Caucus.
Mitchell did not return repeated phone calls or text messages seeking comment.
Yancy told the Sun-Times the incident stemmed from a running disagreement he’s had with Mitchell over Yancy’s South Shore Housing Preservation Ordinance, which aims to protect residents worried about being priced out of their neighborhoods by gentrification as the Obama Presidential Center nears completion in Jackson Park.
When Yancy introduced the ordinance last fall, Mitchell walked up to the freshman alderperson on the Council floor and promised to “teach me a lesson by killing my ordinance,” Yancy said.
Ald. Desmon Yancy (5th) said he has had a running disagreement with Ald. Greg Mitchell (7th) due to Yancy’s support for an ordinance to protect residents from being pushed out by gentrification as the Obama Presidential Center is completed in Jackson Park. Mitchell (far right) participated in the ceremonial groundbreaking for the center in September 2021.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
The ongoing debate turned heated after last Thursday’s special Council meeting. Yancy says he approached Mitchell in the hallway behind the Council chambers when, Yancy claims, Mitchell suddenly lost control.
“He got aggressive. Said the phrase, ‘Do you want to do something?’ And then grabbed me around my head and shoulders and it felt like an attempt to wrestle me to the ground,” Yancy said.
“At which point, we had to be separated by upwards of 10 people that included members of the sergeant-at-arms team and members of the Chicago Police Department. This was witnessed by Chairman Coleman and Chairman [Jason] Ervin. This was an unprovoked attack and is disappointing when I think about what this work is supposed to be and how we weren’t able to have a civil conversation about a difference of opinion.”
After the two men were separated, Yancy said Mitchell “came at me a couple more times as if he was hell-bent on continuing this assault” but was unable to get close enough. The freshman alderman was surrounded and protected by police officers.
Yancy said he plans to file a police report bolstered by what he is told is bodycam video of the entire confrontation.
Yancy called it a classic example of “assault in the workplace” that makes the bullying incident that forced Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th) to resign as Zoning Chair and Mayor Brandon Johnson’s floor leader look like child’s play.
“He can’t lead if he can’t control himself,” Yancy said. “He’s vice-chair of the Housing Committee, which is where my ordinance is. I don’t know what sort of effect he could have on my ordinance passing through committee and through the Council. That’s a big deal.”
Yancy said he made the same demand in a brief conversation with the mayor, but Johnson was noncommittal.
After the incident, Coleman and Ervin “attempted to broker a peaceful conversation between the four of us,” including Mitchell, Yancy said.
“We eventually got to what I thought was a resolution. But he’s not really contrite for what he did and there has to be some consequences for his actions,” Yancy said.
Mitchell’s alleged attack on Yancy marks the third time in recent months Mitchell has been accused of abusing his position.
Last month, Mitchell was accused of threatening one of his constituents, Christopher Amatore, who was housing 448 migrants in local buildings he owns at his own expense.
And last fall, Mitchell got into a physical altercation in the City Hall lobby with a man who was attempting to record a Tik-Tok video of Mitchell talking to a woman complaining that the migrant crisis was siphoning city funding that could be going to Black veterans.