[Peace-discuss] not a peace issue but a local one / need advice on a letter to the Champaign Park District

[E. Wayne Johnson]

Pointing out racism and class bias among the good folk of Champaign is 
like pointing out feathers on a chicken.


On 8/26/2010 8:12 AM, John W. wrote:
> A few years ago an African-American friend of mine coached a Little 
> League team comprised of African-American kids from north of 
> University.  I went to watch one of their games, which took place in a 
> park north of University - seems like it was somewhere around Booker 
> T. Washington School.   There were two games going on that evening, 
> and all four of the teams were comprised exclusively of minority 
> kids.  I was surprised.  I wasn't able to get the whole story, but it 
> seemed like maybe, for reasons of accessibility that you cite in your 
> letter, the black kids didn't play the white kids who lived in a 
> different area of Champaign.  Possibly there's a championship game or 
> series at the end of the season where the white champions play the 
> black champions?  I don't know how the league is set up, but it might 
> be worth calling the Park District and finding out before mailing off 
> your letter.
> John Wason
>
>
> On Wed, Aug 25, 2010 at 11:31 AM, Karen Medina <kmedina67 at gmail.com 
> <mailto:kmedina67 at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     I am writing a letter to the Champaign Park District and would
>     appreciate some advice. I am too angry to be objective.
>
>                                                                      
>          2006 Winchester Dr.
>                                                                      
>          Champaign, IL  61821
>                                                                      
>          August 25, 2010
>
>
>     Champaign Park District
>     706 Kenwood Rd.
>     Champaign, IL 61821
>
>
>     Dear Champaign Park District,
>
>     The park district gets tax money because it works for the common good
>     of the community, not for the rich to the exclusion of the poor. In
>     fact, it would be better for the community if the park district did
>     more for the poor than for the rich -- those kids are already at a
>     disadvantage and more likely to end up in trouble, more likely to have
>     low literacy rates, and more likely to not be involved in sports or
>     other after-school activities.
>
>     My criticism of the Champaign Park District concerns the team
>     practices in Cherry Hills subdivision. Cherry Hills has no bus
>     service. Cherry Hills is very hard to access if you live on the North
>     side of Champaign. The practices are at 5:30 -- a time that is very
>     hard for full-time employed parents to make without taking off work
>     (which is hard for middle class as well as lower economic levels to
>     do). Biking to Cherry Hills is also extremely difficult especially if
>     you have children with you -- Windsor at 5pm is horrible with car
>     traffic and Windsor is just ONE of the busy streets. If you have more
>     than one child with you, biking to Cherry Hills is far away from any
>     other park that would allow the kids to use a bathroom or a place to
>     stop and rest.
>
>     MILLAGE PARK should not be used by the park district as a team
>     practice space, unless you specifically want the teams to be made up
>     of only rich kids. If this is the case, the park district is not
>     helping the community and tax payers should not support the park
>     district.
>
>     I look forward to your reply. If I don't get a reply, the News-Gazette
>     would happily publish it as a letter to the editor.
>
>     Sincerely,
>     Karen E. Medina
>     citizen of a Champaign since 1969
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Peace-discuss mailing list
> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
> http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss
>    

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20100826/2b543b0c/attachment.html>