Longtime La Grange resident Lorna Neuneker remembers cross burnings, people afraid to sell homes to minorities, threats from the Ku Klux Klan and panic peddling during her years.
“I’ve tried to be optimistic for 58 years of living here,” she told those assembled Sunday for the 26th Annual Race Unity Rally. “We’re still waiting.”
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Neuneker, who along with Velaine Carnall received a Diversity Award at the annual gathering by the CommUNITY Diversity Group, might not have to wait much longer, said keynote speaker Jay Readey, a community development attorney and social entrepreneur.
Readey said there has been “eyepopping” integration in recent years, more than people might realize with so much focus on racial unrest in places like Charlottesville, Virginia and Ferguson, Missouri.
He cited a rise in interracial marriage, adoption and friendships in recent years, and said La Grange was a stable community that could be part of what he calls the coming integration, specially noting the community’s location as a place for diverse Chicago residents to move.
“There is a faith tradition here and a faith community that has been involved for a long time in finding the promised land,” he said, referring to racial integration.
He noted an oft quoted statistic that by 2042, the United States population would be majority minority. That shift, he said, is already being experienced by those 18 to 20 years old.
He said he believes integration will grow with a spike in interracial marriages, which now make up about 16 percent of marriages. In the near future, he said, people won’t exclude half the population when looking for a partner.
“At some point, white folks are going to stop marrying just white folks,” he said. “The math doesn’t hold up.”
He urged La Grange residents to work toward integration, which has been a goal of the CommUNITY Diversity Group, which was founded after the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
The group will host a forum on Assisting Integration in La Grange, featuring Carnall and Neuneker, at 7 p.m. Nov. 9 at the La Grange Public Library.
This year’s unity rally also included performances by Watch My Feet, a youth dance and drama group from The LeaderShop.
The organization also honored La Velle Topps, a 20-year board member and former La Grange Elementary District 102 Board member, with its Appreciation Award.
Twitter: @brettdale