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