Oak Park continues soul-searching
in Social Justice series

By ERIC LINDEN

Whether it's about race relations, the rights of disabled persons, gay
rights or a host of other subjects, soul-searching panels never seem to
end in Oak Park. The Regional Exchange Congress in Oak Park took place
Sept. 21, and a three-part series on Social Justice opened that night
and will continue in another month.

The Oak Park-River Forest Community of Congregations, which includes
various religious organizations and faiths in the area, and the
Mansfield Institute for Social Justice at Roosevelt University are
holding the social justice series to get Oak Park and its residents to
do some "self-examination" on the issue.

"Ours is a community which has pioneered in issues such as diversity and
integration," the Community of Congregations said in announcing the
series. "But it is too easy to become complacent about our
accomplishments. It is easy to throw terms like `social justice' around
without much analysis."

The series opened Thursday evening Sept. 21 at Cornerstone Church,
171 N. Cuyler Ave. in Oak Park, when a panel analyzed social justice from
the perspectives of religion, philosophy, legal issues and historic
traditions. The following panel then tried to assess "the quality of
social justice within the community," according to the Community of
Congregations.

The panelists included

* Daniel Lauber, an attorney, urban planner, author and resident of
River Forest, who has been working on efforts to achieve and maintain
stable, racially integrated communities for more than 30 years. Lauber,
also a former planner with Oak Park village government, currently is a
central figure in the movement to have public officials in Oak Park work
for increased racial balance in the schools of Elementary District 97.
* Rev. Dr. Donald H. McCord, co-pastor of Austin Boulevard Christian
Church, 634 N. Austin Blvd., who has worked extensively in urban
ministry. Rev. McCord's doctoral dissertation focused on "Peace and
Justice Witness in the Christian Church."
* Dr. Victor Mirelman, rabbi at West Suburban Temple Har Zion, 1040 N.
Harlem Ave. in River Forest. Dr. Mirelman also is a historian and Jewish
studies instructor.
* Dr. Leon Stein, professor of history and currently the Mansfield
Professor of Social Justice Studies. Stein has developed a course on
social justice for the new social justice studies program at Roosevelt.

While meetings continue on an Oak Park village government's task force
on diversity continue over the next month, the Social Justice series
will take a break until Thursday, Nov. 16, at 7:30 p.m. at Parenthesis
Parent-Child Center, which is based at Euclid United Methodist Church,
405 S. Euclid Ave. in Oak Park.

The next part of the Social Justice series will be on the topic of
"Assessing Social Justice in Our Community," and the panel of experts
that evening is to "propose a practicable methodology for conducting the
self-assessment." Included in that task will be deciding what
information needs to be gathered and how best it can be gathered and
then deciding who and how the information will be presented to residents
of the community.

Included on that Nov. 16 panel are to be:

* Dr. Rebekah Levin, deputy director of the Center for Impact Research
in Chicago. Levin, an Oak Park resident, directed the North Lawndale
Domestic Violence research project.
* Dr. Michael Maly, assistant professor of sociology at Roosevelt
University, who has studied the dynamics of maintaining stable ethnic
and racial diversity in urban neighborhoods.
* Dr. Evan McKenzie, professor of political science at the University of
Illinois at Chicago and author of "Privatopia: Homeowner Associations
and the Rise of Residential Private Government." Another Oak Park
resident and another central party in the current Oak Park debate over
racial balance in the public schools, McKenzie also practiced law for 10
years before becoming a political scientist.
* Sherlynn Reid, whose civic involvement in Oak Park has spanned
decades. Best known as the former, 26-year executive director of the
Community Relations Department in village hall, Reid also is a past
president of the League of Women Voters of Oak Park and River Forest, a
former state and national board member of the League of Women Voters,
one of the founders of the Oak Park Exchange Congress, an occasional
gathering of communities working for racial diversity, and co-chair of
the Oak Park River Forest Gang and Drug Task Force, a consortium of
public bodies in the villages that works to promote positive activities
and to reduce gang activity and drug use by young people in the
community.

At the November social justice forum, there will be a presentation by
the panelists and ample time for participation by the audience.

Then the series will conclude in January, during the annual dinner
meeting of the Community of Congregations on Jan. 18, 2001. A keynote
speaker from among the speakers on the previous series panels will
analyze how social justice "can add to the quality of life in the
community," the event's publicity says. Also, all the panelists will be
invited to make comments, and time would be allotted for questions.

A location has yet to be announced for the 7:30 p.m. dinner meeting, for
which there will be a "nominal charge" to attend.

It is envisioned the collaboration and study about a community issue
will continue with a public process over the next three to five years,
studying a different topic each year and "culminating in a comprehensive
report on the state of the community."

So there will be more soul-searching in and about Oak Park's future.

For additional information, about the series, call 708-386-8802