Initiative launched to talk about race in the suburbs

The Rev. Clyde Brooks, chairman of the Illinois Commission on Diversity and Human Relations, met with colleagues last week to begin plans for what they call the "Racial Divide" initiative, an effort to get people talking about race, and specifically the black community.

Brooks said he began work on the initiative in light of recent conflict between law enforcement and the black community, sparked by fatal shootings of black men by police in Chicago, Ferguson, Missouri, Los Angeles and elsewhere.

"These are all extremely troubling," he said, "and most troubling is the silence of the religious community, and the silence of people of goodwill across this nation."

Although much of the conflict between police and the black community has taken place in urban areas, Brooks said it's also occurring in the suburbs.

"We have had a number of reports coming in to our organization, of incidents in the malls and with groups of young black males being profiled," Brooks said.

While the Racial Divide workshops are being set up, Brooks' organization is also at work on an interactive breakfast symposium set for Jan. 21 in honor of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The event will take place at Motorola Solutions, 1303 E. Algonquin Road in Schaumburg. Registration and breakfast begin at 8 a.m. in the Alpha Conference Room, Door 13.

"We've got to get people together; the black and white communities must come together and address this," Brooks said. "This is more serious than before the 1960s, so why isn't there an outcry?"

Brooks and his family first moved to Elk Grove Village in 1964. Over the next 50 years, he has lived in Arlington Heights, Mount Prospect and Des Plaines, and served on the police and fire commission in Mount Prospect, been an adjunct professor at Harper College, and run for a seat on the Northwest Suburban High School District 214 board.

For more information on the Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast symposium, or to participate in upcoming workshops and conferences, email Brooks at CBrooks@icdhr.com or visit the commission's website, www.icdhr.com.