Wednesday Journal 010919

Page 1

JOURNAL W E D N E S D A Y

January 9, 2019 Vol. 39, No. 23 ONE DOLLAR @oakpark @wednesdayjournal

of Oak Park and River Forest

FOIA change stirs conflict

OPRF swimmers find form Sports page 37

SOMETHING TO SAY: Chicago-based rapper Charles Donalson, also known as Dahzi, strikes a pose outside of his family’s old home on Kenilworth Avenue in Oak Park.

Village Clerk cries foul over being cut out of the loop By TIMOTHY INKLEBARGER Staff Reporter

If you want a police report about a robbery on your block or the permit history of a building in the village or practically any government document available to the public, you’re going to first file a formal request under the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). But the way those requests are processed at Oak Park Village Hall was quietly changed a few days before the Christmas break, prompting a letter-writing campaign by the organization Oak Park Call to Action, See VILLAGE CLERK on page 12

SAY CONNECTS EVENT

ALEXA ROGALS/Staff Photographer

‘America to Me’ star’s wit crackles in new rap CD

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor

Youth take the lead

Jan. 17. Details on page 25

The 10-part documentary series America to Me, which aired last fall on Starz, plumbed the complex depths of Oak Park and River Forest High School’s long, layered struggle with race. The series was, in many ways Shakespearean in its dramatic range and pathos.

Charles Donalson, then a 16-year-old poet with a sword-sharp wit, was a Falstaffian character. Jester-like, seemingly nonchalant and somewhat aloof, Donalson is often seen on camera walking the halls with his headphones on, tuning out the maddening crowd. He often provides much-needed comic relief, but the viewer quickly learns that he is wise beyond his years. “Every activity, every assembly, every-

thing is made for white kids because this school was made for white kids, because this country was made for white kids,” Donalson, then a junior and a precocious member of OPRF’s Spoken Word Club, tells the audience. “They have to realize that some things just have to be ours.” Donalson, now 19, is currently back in See DONALSON on page 13

defy expectations. ffc.com/defy


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.