Your July 2 lead story is headlined “Oak Park is divided by class, says new racial equity assessment.” The story states that consultants report “significant economic divides … in quality of life or social vulnerabilities.” In describing Oak Park, those surveyed most often said that Oak Park is divided by class. In this case, why is the village focusing on race in its equity plan? Racial prejudice certainly exists in Oak Park. But I think there may be confusion between race and socioeconomic class issues — easy to do because racism has limited income and wealth, especially for our Black residents. At this point, though, it appears to me that income/wealth limitations are the main reason our Black population is declining.
Put another way, it seems to me that everyone is pretty much welcome in Oak Park if they can afford it (though I certainly might feel differently if I were Black). However, rising housing prices and property taxes make Oak Park increasingly less affordable. This disproportionately affects Black people, but also people of all races — young people who grew up here and can’t afford to buy, seniors who can’t afford their property taxes on a fixed income, working-age adults who can’t find good jobs, etc. Building more affordable housing may help but not enough to solve the problem.
And do we really, really, deep down in our heart of hearts, want to solve the problem? I suspect not, if the solution would reduce — or even slow the rise of — our residential property values. (For example, the former board president of OPRF High School, arguing for the enormous pool yet to be built, once said he was confident it would increase property values to convince skeptics of its desirability.) And do the boards and administrations of our taxing bodies really, really want to reduce our property taxes? I suspect not, if the solution requires budget reductions.
I agree that racial equity issues should be addressed. But I think race is too narrow a focus. We need to look closely at economic divides in general.
Judith Alexander
Oak Park
