It has been another week in Oak Park of warding off the fear and the separation President Donald Trump works each day to stoke his grim vision of America. Our welcoming community has poked the bear and we have also strategically retreated to protect our immigrant neighbors.
While the nation rightly applauds the return of Jimmy Kimmel to late-night TV, Oak Park has blocked access to its village hall parking lot to prevent ICE agents from using it as a staging area. It is a bold step by Village President Vicki Scaman and village staff to say, “Not here. Not in this village.”
The village board also passed a resolution calling on state and federal elected officials to ban the use of face masks by any and all law enforcement personnel.
Meanwhile, we followed up on two longtime River Foresters who have recently been deported to Slovakia. One witness we interviewed said three of the four agents she encountered on her apartment stairway were masked. When she asked who had detained her longtime neighbor, she was told, “We can’t tell you that.” So far the Journal has had both ICE and Customs & Border Protection deny their involvement. We’ll keep asking.
And in the strategic retreats mentioned, two Oak Park events celebrating Hispanic Heritage and Hispanic artists have both been cancelled to prevent federal agents from targeting those events for possible deportation action. An arts event co-sponsored by Pilgrim Church and the Oak Park Area Arts Council has been delayed even as Pilgrim leaders spoke out to our reporter about the state of the nation.
Oak Park’s village government has also cancelled a festival celebrating Hispanic heritage out of the same concerns over ICE intervention.
Discouragement and hope as we work the long process of retaining and sustaining American values.