West Cook News

The recent vandalism of Oak Park Mayor Anan Abu-Taleb's home as village board members voted down a measure to defend the police is a sign of a community in turmoil.

On Aug. 26 around 100 people sprayed and chalked graffiti on the sidewalk in front of Abu-Taleb’s home and smashed potted plants in his backyard in addition to inflicting other damage on the property. 

The rioting occurred simultaneous with a Oak Park Village Board meeting being presided over by Abu-Taleb.

Arti Walker-Peddakotla

Behind this chaos many are pointing to Arti Walker-Peddakotla and her Twitter and Facebook accounts as fueling the divide.

A Black Lives Matter supporter, Walker-Peddakotla is consistent in her messaging regarding policing and is adamant about her desire to defund the Oak Park Police.

While she clearly encouraged the effort in Oak Park that led to Abu-Taleb’s house being damaged , Walker-Peddakotla maintains her innocence.

“I was not involved in organizing or planning Tuesday night’s protest, nor will I denounce it,” she said in statement after the incident.

In response Tom McMillan said she was leading the problem.

“Your actions are putting these children into situations that they should not be in,” McMillan posted. “They are kids, stop using them. And stop pretending that you are not.”

Days after Abu-Taleb’s home was damaged Walker-Peddakotla retweeted a photo of a satirical cartoon from the civil rights with the statement “I plan to lead another non-violent march tomorrow” and a city on fire in the background.

“AKA what's happening in #OakPark,” Walker-Peddakotla tweeted.

Democrats across the country have suffered criticism by referring only to protestors and not rioters and turning a blind eye to criminal acts and prosecution.

In Oak Park the other five board members, regardless of party affiliation, banded together to release a public statement condemning the destruction at Abu-Taleb’s home. Walker-Peddakotla refused to join the rest of the board in denouncing the vandalism. 

In fact, Walker-Peddakotla went further in the other direction trying to provide blanket protection to those responsible by cautioning anyone from speaking out against the “young people” who damaged Abu-Taleb’s home.  

“I’ve seen racist language used to describe the young people who protested on Tuesday night - words like ‘terrorists’ and ‘dogs’ being used to describe our young people.,” Walker-Peddakotla said. “This is racism and white supremacy and is the exact thing that the youth are protesting against.”

Resorting to calling people racists when they do not agree with her is an old trick for Walker-Peddakotla.

Earlier this year Abu-Taleb apologized to an appointee to the Police Oversight Commission after Walker-Peddakotla called him “racist” and “misogynist” during a board meeting.

Walker-Peddakotla, who supported another candidate for the position, said it was “ridiculous” the board was not appointing a black man to the position.