Government > Boards and Commissions Activities

The Human Rights Commission is charged with preventing discrimination and promoting better relations between the Village’s diverse racial, ethnic, religious, cultural, and social groups.

The commission is made up of seven people appointed by the Village President and approved by the Village Trustees.

One of the problems that the Human Rights Commission is concerned about is bigotry. Below is the text of a speech given by the Commission to local groups concerning this subject.

That’s Not Right!

Today, I would like to speak to you about Wheeling, a history of immigrants and their effects on our community, and bigotry.

In 1864 a group of German immigrant farmers founded what is now the Community Presbyterian Church of Wheeling.

The services were initially in German. It was not until 1918, some 54 years later, that the services were conducted in English.

Thus a tradition was started in Wheeling that continues through today: providing a place where the newly arrived to this country can worship in their native tongue as they and their children become assimilated into the culture and language of their adopted country.

Until 1957, the Community Presbyterian Church was the only house of worship located within the boundaries of the Village of Wheeling.

Today, there are at least ten: three have Spanish language services, two with Korean and one with Polish services. We also have a Hindu Temple.

Congregation Beth Am, a Jewish Temple recently moved to Buffalo Grove as they out grew their building in wheeling.

These houses of worship reflect the ever-changing cultural diversity of our community.

In 1955 the village had a population of approximately 1,000 people.

By 1958 the population had dramatically increased to approximately 8,000 people.

These "immigrants" to Wheeling at that time came mostly from Chicago and were drawn to the Village by affordable housing such as the Dunhurst and Meadowbrook subdivisions.

These "immigrants" from the city initially found some hostility from the residents of the "Old Wheeling" part of the Village. The frigid reception was attributed to the fact that "Old Wheeling" resented the change wrought by the new-comers due to higher taxes, overcrowded schools, overtaxed infrastructure, and a dramatic change in the atmosphere of the village.

The population in Wheeling in 1980 was approximately 23,000 and today it has increased to more than 32,000 inhabitants.

The Village is diverse in age of population; income, occupations, and ethnic make up.

Recent arrivals are Eastern Europeans, and people from the Asian/Pacific areas.

People of Hispanic origin have been in Wheeling since the early 40’s and 50’s when they first came here to the truck farms as migrant workers. Some stayed, and, not unlike other arrivals, brought their families to the area.

The new residents of Hispanic origin are probably the largest group of recent "new comers" to the Village.

Due to its expanding job market, the Wheeling area is a magnet for both native-born and foreign-born people seeking work and a better life.

Wheeling, which began as a village of German immigrants, has become a village of wide diversity and promises to become even more diverse. This follows a national trend

This brings me to the subject of bigotry.

Whenever a "new " or "different" group of people move into an area, especially an area where they have not been numerous before, they bring a certain amount of "change" with them which may be resented at first, not unlike the changes that the so called immigrants from Chicago brought with them.

Many of the complaints against today’s immigrants, especially the accusation that they are different from and far worse than earlier immigrants, are identical to the charges leveled against those same earlier immigrants.

However, each group thrived, refuting the stereotypes attributed to them as they assimilated into the local culture.

In recent years we have been advised to be "Tolerant" of other people’s views. That is fine unless it is carried too far. By that I mean that we are becoming tolerant of many forms of socially unacceptable behavior and this is not to our credit. It is simply tolerance gone amuck!

There is a new permissiveness, which is increasingly willing to regard behavior as an entirely private matter.

The reasoning goes something like this,

"Who are we to judge people if they are sincere, if they believe that they are entitled to act as they do? It might not be right for me, but it may be right for them."

I am not comfortable with that argument for the obvious reason that we and other people may be affected in ways that we find unacceptable. Those effects are unacceptable regardless of the sincerity of the people concerned.

It is not uncommon to hear a person making a derogatory remark regarding an individual, a nationality, a race, or a gender.

We have been taught to mind our manners and to be polite to people, even when we disagree with them.

Today, this also falls under tolerance or permissiveness.

The problem with that approach, especially when bigotry is involved is that you, by your silence, condone or appear to condone their actions or words.

This makes the person think that you agree with them and it encourages them to continue.

This is called tacit approval! If the listener tolerates the remark, the listener is as bad as the person making the remark is.

We cannot and we should not be tolerant of bigotry. Bigots have to be shown up for what they are, or else they may be taken seriously.

Now, we have to be careful here because a problem arises that some people cannot identify bigotry, or they may be prone to allege bigotry where none exists. They may claim bigotry when it is not bigotry but an honest difference of opinion or in some cases, a person abiding by higher standards.

When I speak of bigotry, I’m talking about hard core straight out bigotry.

With that said, I would like to propose that you join the Village of Wheeling Human Rights Commission in a program called, "That’s Not right!"

"That’s Not Right!" is a phrase to be used in conversation after someone makes a derogatory statement regarding a person or a group of people.

"That’s Not Right!" indicates that you do not approve of what has just been said.

It can end there, or if necessary, be followed up with why they are wrong to say what they are saying.

I have found that in most cases, it ends there. It is not easy to do; in fact it takes some courage to stop someone in their tracks like that.

However, if you don’t make this point, you too, are giving tacit approval to this person’s bigotry.

The idea is to make bigotry or bigoted remarks socially unacceptable.

So, please join us in this campaign. Let’s help stamp out bigotry in Wheeling. We ask you to wear a "That’s Not Right!" button to show where you stand. Let’s all be less tolerant of bigotry!