Mount Prospect leaders, Black resident engage in frank exchange about race

Mount Prospect Mayor Arlene Juracek and other village officials met this week with Joann Smith, a Black resident who raised issues of racial equity and profiling at a recent protest in front of village hall.

"It was amazingly constructive and very upbeat," Juracek said of the meeting, which also included Village Manager Michael Cassady and Police Chief John Koziol.

Smith agreed, saying she came away with a positive opinion of all three officials.

"It seems like they are looking forward," she added.

The discussion was frank, especially when the topic was policing. Smith said she found Koziol to be very direct.

"I did commend him and his officers," she said. "The ones that have stopped me in the past have always been decent. Even if they gave me a ticket, I didn't feel like they were going to be abusive to me. On the other hand, my son has been stopped, and he probably has a different take on it, because I know that when they stop a Black young man, they stop him totally different than they stop an old grandmother."

Juracek said the village needs to work at "normalizing the diversity" of the community. This can be done, she said, through village events such as the Celebration of Cultures, the efforts of the Community Engagement Committee, and encouraging diversity on boards and commissions.

"We just need to create more opportunities to dialogue," she said. "Once you get to know people who are different from you, you're not afraid."

Smith said she was encouraged to join a village committee.

"I told them that I feel that their board is all white people, and I think that's part of the problem also," she said. "Bring in some other views and some other people's perspectives on things. And they said they are trying to do that and reach out to more people.

"I felt like it was a positive meeting, but I do know that sometimes meetings are just meetings, that people say what they think you want to hear."