I spoke before the Oak Park Village Board in April 2024 when it considered the ceasefire resolution. I spoke of my fear of the division it would cause in the community. Looking back two years later, my fears were justified. It began that very night. An audience member disrupted the meeting, shouting “liar” at me as I talked about sexual violence during Hamas’ Oct. 7 invasion. (1)
In April 2026, CJPIP and Oak Parkers for Free Speech (OPFS) brought to Oak Park Township another resolution for a vote by registered voters. The fire marshall cancelled the first meeting because of overcrowding. Yet a participant yelled something like “We know who controls things in Oak Park,” words implicating Jewish Oak Parkers. (2)
The question was soundly defeated by a 2-1 margin (about 450 votes). In the Chicago Tribune/Oak Leaves, a referendum supporter called everyone who voted no “racist” for being a multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-religious group of friends and neighbors. (3)
Almost immediately referendum supporters, on Facebook and in letters in the Wednesday Journal, said the vote had suppressed the ability of the people of Oak Park to have a voice. CJPIP/OPFS attempted to shift responsibility for their defeat. (4) Two losses didn’t stop OPFS from pushing ahead with another referendum.
At a campaign fundraiser, one of the leaders of OPFS is quoted in Wednesday Journal as saying, “There is a very small, very active, very organized group in our community that worked together to deny the broader Oak Park electorate the chance to weigh in on that issue.” That may sound innocuous, but taken together with “suppressed voices” mentioned earlier, it lands very differently for many in the Jewish community. (5)
And let us not forget the anti-Jewish vandalism that took place over several days at a building site on Home Avenue in June 2026. (6)
We don’t have to agree on the issues of Israel and Palestine. We should, however, seek to avoid making Oak Park less united, and less compassionate with the many local challenges we face. That is why I am voting No.
Sources:
(1) Letter by Alan Peres, Wednesday Journal, May 21, 2024
(2) Witnessed by several people. Not reported by Wednesday Journal because no reporter was present.
(3) Chicago Tribune/Pioneer Press April 29, 2026
(4) June 2, 2026 Facebook post in the Polite Politics Group by Elyse FC has comment by James Madigan. It is one of several in different places.
(5) Wednesday Journal, July 7, 2026
(6) Wednesday Journal, June 15, 2026
Alan Peres
Oak Park
Objector in the referendum court challenge