'No hate' rally planned Saturday in Elk Grove Village

A lineup of federal, state and local politicians will join leaders of local organizations at a "no hate" rally Saturday in Elk Grove Village.

Indivisible-Elk Grove Township is holding its "America Has No Place For Hate" event from 8 to 10 a.m. at Rotary Green, 164 Lions Drive.

Speakers are expected to include Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Schaumburg Democrat; State Sen. Laura Murphy, a Des Plaines Democrat; and Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson and Police Chief Chuck Walsh.

Other speakers are expected to include Ann Gillespie, the 27th state Senate District Democratic candidate from Arlington Heights, and Kevin Morrison, the Cook County Board 15th District Democratic candidate from Elk Grove Village.

Speakers from local groups include Mike Ziri of Equality Illinois, Ed Yohnka of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, Humaira Basith representing the Muslim community, and a representative of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

Organizer Julee Mortensen said the event is not intended to be political, but instead focus on ways to stop hatred on the local level. Speakers are expected to address a variety of topics, including discrimination on the basis of race, religion, gender and sexual orientation.

"I asked them to basically give us something on how we can stop hate in our community. What can we do?" Mortensen said. "I didn't want them to bring anything political into it, because we can blame all kinds of people. But what do we do to stop it in our community?"

Johnson said he would speak at the event as long as it remained nonpartisan and didn't single out individual people or politicians.

"My hope is it can set a tone to be used in Springfield and Washington and people joining together and working together," he said.