Dear Oak Park residents,
As a fellow Oak Parker of over 40 years, I express my strong support for the Oak Park Village Board to pass a resolution supporting a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, freedom for the hostages, and urgent, lifesaving humanitarian aid to the 2.2 million people of Gaza. Please urge our village trustees to join the over 150 other municipalities across the country by putting a permanent-ceasefire resolution on the village board’s June 4 agenda for a discussion and a vote as soon as possible.
Our community has a stake in the peaceful resolution of this conflict. Unlike other heartbreaking wars and humanitarian crises in the world, it is our tax dollars that are funding the weapons used in the assault on the Gazan civilian population, tax dollars that could be used on vital community services, such as building affordable housing, providing rental assistance, and other programs supporting housing stability for Oak Park’s most vulnerable.
A permanent ceasefire is essential for release of the hostages and the distribution of lifesaving humanitarian aid. But most importantly, a permanent ceasefire is the only way to end the “full blown famine” that President Biden’s ambassador to the World Food Program, Cindy McCain, said is in full swing in northern Gaza and quickly moving south. This horrific observation of famine has been confirmed by many other humanitarian aid organizations including Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International, USAID, and World Central Kitchen. It is our moral imperative as a nation and as a community to say no to the forced starvation of dozens of children in the last month due to the lack of humanitarian aid.
Chef Jose Andres has called this “a war against humanity itself.” Please amplify our voices on behalf of Oak Park and on behalf of humanity.
Henry Fulkerson
Oak Park