Why Cata Truss Wants to Turn Chicago Red

Well-known Austin activist Cata Truss supported Mayor Brandon Johnson’s election bid last year, but since then she’s become so dissatisfied with the mayor and the entire Democratic Party that she switched allegiances and registered as a Republican for the first time in her life. 

During an interview earlier this year, Cata, the wife of former Chicago Board of Education member and well-known educate advocate Dwayne Truss, explained her position and talked about how she’s handling all the attention she’s been getting from the media for her newfound stance. 

I voted for Brandon for mayor, because I knew him. Before he ran, I thought we had a good relationship. He was my Cook County commissioner and if I had an issue involving the county, he was someone I could call. 

We also did some work together back when Rahm [Emanuel] was mayor and they were closing 50 schools. We were talking to aldermen, trying to get them to step in and stand up for communities and against closing those schools. We spent a lot of time doing those kinds of things together. So, when he decided to run for commissioner, he called me and asked for my support and I gave it. When he decided to run for mayor, he called me up and asked for my support and I gave it and I felt good about giving it — until I didn’t. 

I thought surely this Black man would have a pulse on the needs in our community. But I’m looking at what he’s pushing and fighting for [particularly around the migrant issue]. I expected more commonsense decisions. He could’ve always turned the buses around. I understand Mayor [Lori] Lightfoot started it, but Brandon came in and doubled down. 

He could’ve said, ‘It’s a new administration, I need to stop this. I need to see where we are. I need to make sure that all the people who are here currently are housed.’ Those are the things that could have happened prior to [Texas Gov. Greg] Abbot sending buses. But [Mayor Johnson] doubled down and said, ‘We’re the city of big shoulders. We can handle it!’ And then you have someone from Texas who is overwhelmed say, ‘Bet, here they come.’  

On her last straw 

This [her change of heart] all started with the Amundsen Park Fieldhouse [the city wanted to turn the Galewood facility into a temporary shelter for migrants before Cata and others protested and sued, putting a stop to the decision].

We were at every single City Council meeting. What turned my stomach was seeing 300 to 400 Black Americans at City Hall telling the mayor what we wanted and how we felt only to have him basically ignore us. They [Johnson’s administration] did what they wanted to do regardless of what the people were saying. 

I was in City Hall the day [in October 2023] when they decided to change the rules for who would be admitted on the gallery floor for the City Council meetings. I was there when there was a crowd of Black Chicagoans and those supporting a fair wage and the Bring Chicago Home ordinance and they were all of Latino descent. 

I remember one of the Latino guys turning around to one of the Black elderly women and saying to her, ‘Get a job!’ He was so disrespectful and indignant to her. That caused a ruckus, as it should have, and the brothers in the crowd checked him, as they should have. This young man instigated the incident that got us kicked out. We were all asked to leave and they told us we wouldn’t be allowed in, but that group got to go back in. It was at that point when I said, ‘We’re a joke. We as Black people are a joke in this city.’ And one reason we’re a joke is because no matter what these elected officials say or do, we continue to support them. 

On why she’s skeptical about a Black/Brown coalition 

People like to talk about Black and Brown, which really turns my stomach, because if you walk into Brown rooms, they’re not talking about Black folk. At what point do we as Black people have conversations about Black folk? 

This migrant crisis has taught me something. For as many years as Black people have suffered in America — for as many years as our schools have been defunded, our communities blighted; think about families who may be working and only making a minimum wage, trying to eat and buy gas — only to have the government sit on billions of dollars that could’ve helped them and now they see [funding] opening up to support migrants.  

They say to Black America, ‘Don’t be stingy or selfish’ or ‘Have a heart.’ We’re always the ethnic group that has to have a heart. Why do we always have to be mindful of the plight of others when no one is willing to be mindful of our plight? How many times have you heard immigrants say to Black people, ‘You’re lazy or get a job?’ 

On her switch to the Republican Party 

What we have now is not working. As Black Americans, for the last 60 years, we have followed the Democratic Party. Even after the [1994] Crime Bill and the War on Drugs that decimated the Black man and the Black community, we still stood with Biden. 

Because there are only two major parties in Chicago, I’m of the mind to try something else. I am not married to either party. That needs to be the sentiment of all the voters in Chicago. We in Cook County are married to the Democratic Party as DuPage County is married to the Republican Party. We need to be independent and support the people who best support our best interests and voters have to be willing to switch up. This is about tactics, it’s about making things better for my people. 

On her outsized voice 

Since October, Cata has appeared on local and national TV outlets like MSNBC and Fox News to air her opinions on the migrant issue

Every two weeks since October, I’ve been going on national news talking about the issues and where we stand. I’ve done several podcasts. I’m actually working on my own YouTube channel. There is a following, so we want to engage people and talk to people and give them the tools they need to advocate for themselves. 

On confronting the reality of today’s Republican Party 

I went to my first Republican rally [in February] at the Billy Goat Tavern. I felt welcomed. I am who I am and I don’t mince words. I did say to them, ‘If you’re ever going to win over people who may be on the fence, your talking points will have to change. The hate rhetoric will have to change. The gutting of the Voting Rights Act — I’m going to need y’all to fix that.’ 

I think I said things to them that people think, but won’t say. Trying to tell women what to do with their body? That ain’t okay. Allow women the right to choose. Those are conversations they aren’t willing to have because they’re close-minded. If you’re living in Connecticut looking at things happening in Chicago that aren’t your reality, to most Joe-blows, they’re thinking Black people are lazy. Most Black people I know are some of the hardest working people you’ll know. So, my thing with the Republican Party is this: Sit down with us and have a conversation with us. We’re very intelligent. 

I don’t need you to see things my way. I need you to listen to me. It’s OK for us to agree to be disagreeable. To horse-trade some things. I’m not sure what will happen when I start talking to Trump-ites, but I am a Christian first. I give honor to God. He is the head of my life. I cannot as a Christian woman be part of anybody pushing a form of hate, but I can stand up and fight for my people. And I will do that until the last breath in me is gone.

Are you afraid of Republicans turning you into a caricature? 

Right now, I don’t give a damn. I did speak with a young lady who ran for governor in Michigan and one of the things she said is, ‘Be careful with the Republican Party, because they will chew you up and spit you out. But I feel like right now the Democratic Party are chewing up Black folk and spitting them out. What would be the difference?