Hi there, conservative neighbor Mark! [Welcome to Woke Park, neighbor! Viewpoints, Oct. 1]. I’m Greg and my wife and I have lived in Oak Park for 32 years, and we also raised our family here.
First, 32 years ago I lucked out and landed a job in Chicago, and my wife and I chose to bring our family to Oak Park for its progressive politics and its tolerance of different races, ethnicities, religions, gender-identities and — pertinently here — political viewpoints.
But I spent my teens growing up in a small Mississippi town, where many of the white people there would deliberately use the n-word around me despite knowing that I was not racist like them; but they enjoyed making me feel uncomfortable and that, above all other considerations, was apparently what was most important to them. In that town, Black people lived on the other side of the tracks in ramshackle shotgun houses, and had to sit in the balcony at the movie theater and drink from water fountains labeled “Colored.”
Of course we had a public library, but only white people were allowed inside to use it. I attended Mississippi public schools, always ranked either 50th or 49th in the country, depending on whether Alabama or Mississippi’s legislature had increased its funding more recently to get out of the basement. Oh, and there were separate schools for Black and white kids until I was in my late teens. Plus, in Mississippi our property taxes were very low, which meant that the town leaders claimed to never have enough money to pave the streets in Black neighborhoods.
Police protection? Well, we had a police department. But after I was attacked and beaten bloody for my anti-racist politics at a gas station by three linemen from my high school football team, the police came and took my statement and that of the attendant, then drove across the street to where my (obviously unconcerned) attackers were standing around laughing. Within moments, the police were also standing around laughing and backslapping the assailants. No charges were ever brought. Oak Park’s police — to the best of my knowledge — are competent and respectful toward all of our citizens. I suspect this may have something to do with the village’s progressive politics.
Your children and mine had the good fortune to attend Oak Park schools, which are consistently ranked highly in the state of Illinois. The taxes are high to be sure, but all of our kids got great educations here and they are all successful adults now with children of their own. It seemed, and still seems, a fair price to pay. I hope your kids have had similar success.
After reading your “One View” contribution, Mark, I don’t know how you’ve hung in there for 37 years in Oak Park with all of its damned tolerance. You might want to consider going to a place where more people think like you do — a certain small Mississippi town comes to mind. And, yeah, let’s catch up at the Farmers Market one day. I’ll look for the guy whose dog is wearing a red kerchief.
Greg Pulliam is retired and obviously has a fair amount of time on his hands.