I attended every presentation at OPRF High School regarding the stadium lights. No matter how many solutions were offered (special lights that would project downward, agreement to limit usage and times, etc.), the fury of the neighbors kept increasing. It was difficult to imagine the source of such resistance.
However, by the time of the last hearing, the truth became increasingly more apparent. Subtle comments were replaced with more aggressive statements, with an underlying theme of Chicago kids coming to Friday night games. African-American board member Jacques Conway commented that he was glad Oak Park allowed him to cross over from Chicago when he became an Oak Park police officer. I left the meeting wondering in exactly which community OPRF was situated.
It would be unfair to suggest that all resistance to the lights is based on racism; however, there was no doubt in my mind that the majority of the opposition expressed was based on a fear of African-American teens. I actually feel indebted to Neil Davis for so clearly putting it out there. There was not even an attempt to hide the racism-there it was for all to see.
Wednesday Journal could have simply printed the letter, and it most definitely needed to be printed. But printing the letter-without the picture-would have allowed readers to believe that the student was actually flashing gang signs. To best illustrate the underlying racism behind the battle against the lights, we needed to see the letter and the picture. That allowed the truth to be told. One looks at the picture and can only see three very clean-cut, polite looking young men and read Davis’ letter with nothing but disgust.
But alas, no matter how well meaning the Journal might have been, the ends never justify the means and the young men in the picture are not pawns to be used to make a point. Your objective, Wednesday Journal, might have been very noble, but your judgment was extremely poor. But you know that and have expressed your remorse in the most contrite manner. To the young man in the picture and his parents, may I simply say that I am sorry for the disrespect that you endured, but I also want to thank you for helping to expose the ugly reality .
Patti Marino
River Forest
