Chicago City Council member on hot seat over rally appearance where U.S. flag was burned

City Council members are talking about censuring one of their own for appearing at a rally outside City Hall where an American flag was burned to protest U.S. support for Israel.

Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th), Mayor Brandon Johnson’s hand-picked Housing Committee chair, maintained Monday that he arrived at a Friday night rally outside City Hall after the flag burning and that the military veteran responsible for the protest has apologized for putting Sigcho-Lopez in an awkward position that made him a political target.

A photograph posted on social media shows Sigcho-Lopez holding a microphone and speaking a few feet away from the burned remains of an American flag on the sidewalk in front of him. But Sigcho-Lopez said Monday, “I personally didn’t see it. I was not aware. When I arrived, this already had happened.”

Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th) said “quite a few” of his colleagues are considering a call for a special Council meeting to vote on a censure resolution.

Sigcho-Lopez accused those colleagues, some of whom condemned him on social media over the weekend, of fabricating the facts and jeopardizing “my safety and the safety of my family.”

“What are they censuring here, because they clearly don’t know if I was there or not. ... They took a photo. I understand that they are speculating. But the Constitution protects [flag burning] as a First Amendment right of this veteran, and nobody has even taken the time to talk to this veteran,” Sigcho-Lopez told the Sun-Times.

“I wasn’t aware” the flag was burned, he said. “I hope that my colleagues understand what they’re putting at risk because by censuring an immigrant who is a naturalized citizen, who has been organizing and defending justice in the city of Chicago, falling for the MAGA propaganda, has put not only my safety, but the safety of my family, at risk. Shame on those people who are doing that.”

Provided by Matthew Kaplan

Taliaferro, a military veteran and former Chicago police officer who also chairs the Police and Fire Committee, said he and other Council members pondering censure consider Sigcho-Lopez’s presence at the rally “reprehensible.” Besides censure, he added, he and other colleagues also may demand that Sigcho-Lopez resign as Housing Committee chair.

Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th) was forced to resign as Johnson’s Zoning chair and Council floor leader after apologizing for bullying and intimidating his colleagues in an attempt to block consideration of a nonbinding resolution asking voters whether Chicago should remain a sanctuary city.

“He’s not only speaking in front of a flag that had been burned. He’s also standing in front of a banner that accuses the president of the United States of genocide. A person that the Democratic Party, of which he’s a member, [supports]. So there should be action taken by the Cook County Democratic Party as well,” Taliferro said.

Fellow Council members Gilbert Villegas (36th), Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) and Ald. Brendan Reilly (42) condemned Sigcho-Lopez on social media over the weekend, and are among those considering the censure vote.

Just because flag burning is protected speech does not mean it’s unworthy of censure, Taliaferro said.

“When Jim Gardiner used the b-word in referencing a woman in a private conversation, it was a protected right, but we found that it was reprehensible. … There was an apology that was of some satisfaction to those that he had harmed. Same with Carlos Ramirez-Rosa,” who escaped censure only when Johnson cast the tie-breaking vote to save his former floor leader.

“We are held to a higher standard,” Taliaferro said. “We promote democracy. We fight for those who have defended what our flag stands for. If we can’t do that, then why are we in public office?”

Taliaferro said he doesn’t buy his colleague’s claim of ignorance.

“Whether he’s there or not, that flag was burned in front of him within 3 feet of his presence, and I’m sure that he saw that. He cannot have missed it. And that stands against what we, as elected officials, should be standing for,” Taliaferro said.

Sigcho-Lopez said if the Council censures him or demands his resignation as Housing chair, “then every single one of them should give up their chairmanships. ... They don’t have the moral grounds to censure me on something that is a fabrication.”

Veteran protest organizer Andy Thayer, who attended Friday’s rally, criticized alderpersons considering calls for Sigcho-Lopez’s censure.

“I find it pretty telling that this amount of outrage is expressed over a flag burning. I only wish our politicians showed at least as much outrage over 31,000 people being killed in Gaza with our tax money,” Thayer said.

“Has the First Amendment been abolished here? This is free speech — whether you like it or not,” he said.