
By Dave Dahl
SPRINGFIELD – When Gov. JB Pritzker showed up Monday at an anti-hate event in Chicago, he invoked the name of the six-year-old boy killed in Plainfield.
“We must honor Wadea (al Fayoume) and the other innocent people who have been killed by safeguarding the lives of other Palestinians and Jewish people and Arabs who live among us,” said the governor.
Attorney General Kwame Raoul also participated in the event, organized by the Arab-American Bar Association.
“The conflict in the Middle East has caused an unacceptable uptick in anti-Arab, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic rhetoric, and, in some instances, criminal violence,” said Raoul. “We join unequivocally in in condemning hate crimes and hate speech, whether it occurs in the workplace, at educational institutions, on social media, or in the community at large.”
Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected].