Mayor Pekau's "Go to another country" remains unanswered one year later

When Arab Americans respectfully addressed the Orland Park Village Board one year ago, the Mayor, Keith Pekau, told them to "Go to another country." Since then no one has left and nothing has happened

By Ray Hanania

FREE/Orland Park Arab Americans Muslims Racism/Wednesday Feb. 6, 2025

It was one year ago when residents of Orland Park, which has the fastest-growing Arab American population, went to the Village Board meeting to urge the Mayor, Keith Pekau, and the board to adopt a resolution calling for a “ceasefire” to end the violence and death in Gaza.

The speakers were respectful and focused on why the resolution was important. The most articulate was Yousef Zegar, who up until then hadn’t engaged in much public political activism and was speaking as a concerned resident. Zegar noted accurately that the Village Board of Orland Park had adopted a resolution on foreign issues, supporting the Ukraine.

But when the speaking was done, Pekau lashed out at the nearly 75 taxpayers of his village and told them to “go to another country.”

When some of the audience justifiably expressed anguish at the racist comment, Pekau cleared the board and kicked them all out, waited until they were gone, and then continued the meeting with no one in the audience.

The Illinois Attorney General, Kwame Raoul, ruled that Pekau had violated the law. But because the Illinois Attorney General’s office is so weak and ineffective, no action was taken against Pekau.

Raoul’s history in office suggests he does everything to avoid conflicts and only takes on the easy challenges.

The meeting was not covered by any local or regional news media, except by me for the Arab News Newspaper. You can read the column I wrote about the meeting which the next day provoked several local media, including WGN TV, to pick up on the story.

CLICK THIS LINK and you can not only read the column but watch the video clips of Pekau’s disrespectful response, one that is typical of his vicious political nature.

The meeting prompted many of the Arab Americans to get together and they announced the launch of “Orland United” to help rally a village-wide response to Pekau’s disrespectful conduct. One of the goals was to run Arab Americans for office in the Orland Park Village elections that were, at the time, more than a year away.

The election is not until April 1, 2025, so “Orland United” had more than a year to organize, rally, and slate Arab Americans to run for office.

In the year that followed, the group did little except identify members of the community whom they disliked and didn’t want to support. One Arab American, elected in 2023 as a trustee on the High School District 230 board, Mohammed Jaber, announced he would run for trustee.

Jaber has been nothing but professional in speaking out for the rights of students, Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Unfortunately, the Arab community has been victimized for far too long in America and in Chicagoland, denied their rights, bullied, and targeted by racism and Islamophobia, and they often turn against themselves undermining their best intentions.

When you point out their faults, they get even angrier because it is easier for them to fight among themselves than to fight against the more powerful political forces that hate the community.

While “Orland United” did a lot of talking, Jaber proposed that the District 230 board post messages on their Facebook page to congratulate the Christian community on the celebration fof Christmas, which District 230 dictator Lynn Zeder refused to do.

He urged that the District add Arabic Language classes to the school curriculum, which Zeder blocked and sent to a committee where the idea could die.

Then Jaber urged that District 230 board, at a public meeting, to reschedule Student Finals for the Spring of 2026 in order to accommodate an important religious holiday for Muslim students that would overlap. It would force Muslim students to have to choose between school testing or celebrating their religious beliefs with families.

It’s the same problem that Jewish parents in District 230 have faced for years, too. They have been told to reschedule their tests as their important holidays like Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah are also not recognized. Meanwhile, the district’s school schedule is defined by Christian holidays like Easter, Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter.

Orland Park has one of the fastest-growing Arab and Muslim populations in the Chicagoland area but nothing is being done to advocate for their rights. Orland Park’s history of anti-Muslim racism opposing the building of the first ever Mosque in Orland Park 2004 — even though Orland Park has some 30 Christian churches and not one Synagogue.

As a note, the haters should know that the majority of Arabs in Orland Park and the Southwest suburbs are actually Christians, not Muslims. But for most haters and racists, that doesn’t matter. They love to stereotype and attack people. It makes the haters feel good.

Yet with all these problems, Orland United wasn’t very “united” at all. Having covered regional politics in Chicagoland for more than 50 years, I have come to conclude that any group that has to put labels on their names like “United” does something to fill a void. They clearly are not “united” at all.

Meanwhile, Jaber continues to fight for education rights in Orland Park without any backing from the so-called “community leaders.”

And of course, “Orland United,” which failed to slate any Arab Americans for any Orland Park offices, expanded to merge with a regional group called “All United” headed by State Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid. The two groups have raised a lot of money. But what are they going to do? Slate candidates? Register more Arab American voters? Educate Arab Americans on local politics? Or, just continue to criticize Arabs they don’t like because if they can’t be controlled, they are not considered to be of value?

When I wrote about it, criticizing the fact that the community was just creating another organization when we have so many already, Rashid got upset. I like Rashid and think he has the best interests of the community in mind, but I get a sense it is about him more sometimes.

I volunteer with a group called the Arab American Democratic Club which has been around for 40 years. “All United” sounded like “all” it was going to do was duplicate the effort.

Rashid has a right to his opinion, but I have a right to mine. And, the difference is as a state legislator, he works for the taxpayers, so he should get used to accepting constructive criticism for the value it offers and not ego to be bruised.

Do your job!

Maybe what they should do is create another new organization, raise more money, and sing “kumbaya” as they pat themselves on their backs.

One day, the Arab American community will have some really good leaders who feel a responsibility to be accountable to their community, not in conflict with their community.

It would have been great to see an Arab American run for Trustee in Orland Park to challenge Pekau’s rubber stamp board. The candidacy would have rallied a protest far beyond just the 70 or so people who had the courage to speak out at the Orland Park board a year ago.

Sadly, little will change until we get good leaders who know how to take criticism, recognize criticism as a way to identify things that need to be improved and stop acting like a “Good old boy” clique for insiders.

I am Arab American. I am proud to be an Arab American. And I expect people who hold public office to deliver on their promise of “public service,” not “self-service.”

Maybe All United Should be at the next Orland Park Village Board to continue the protest and demand rights for everyone in Orland Park, not just those that Pekau favors.

But that would mean really living up to their name.