2 DuPage Trustees Issue Statement On Racism Allegations

(The following is a joint statement provided to the Bolingbrook Patch by Ken Burgess and Maripat Oliver, two elected officials who serve as trustees for DuPage Township.)

BOLINGBROOK, IL - In recent months, the DuPage Township Board has been undergoing a forensic audit of township finances to ensure that all taxpayer funds are properly accounted. As Trustees on the Board, we have chosen to not speak publicly until the auditor’s findings were presented to the full Board. However, in light of allegations recently made in an article published July 20, 2018 in the Will County Gazette, we felt it necessary to come forward to address these allegations.

Duane Bell, president of a youth football league, the Bolingbrook Buccaneers, is quoted as saying the league reached out to the NAACP for advice as they felt the league was being discriminated against because their members are predominantly African-American. Fellow DuPage Township Trustee, Alyssia Benford is also quoted as saying that "I felt the actions of our supervisor (William Mayer) and fellow board member were acts of discrimination against a predominately African-American team."

We adamantly deny any allegations of discrimination, racial or otherwise, and stand by our records as public servants in the community as well as our personal backgrounds.

Trustee Burgess served our country, proudly standing with brothers and sisters in arm of all races; he coaches youth football of all races and serves as a mentor to the youth in our community and considers his greatest gift in life to be his granddaughter who just happens to be biracial.

Trustee Oliver has dedicated her adult life to ensuring all children are given a chance in life by serving on the Board for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. Oliver raised five children of different races, two biological and three adopted. She has seen racism firsthand through her children and is disappointed that anyone would imply that she would not be the first one protesting any semblance of racism, perceived or factual.

We have served as Trustees for many years and can say without hesitation that the group in question was not discriminated against. Led by Supervisor Mayer, we regularly support community organizations with no thought to the racial makeup of the group. The Buccaneers were a new league, originally requesting $20,000, and had no relationship or history with the township, so the Board did their due diligence by scrutinizing the league before the Township board unanimously voted to provide support to this new Township Youth Organization. For a group brand new to the township, we felt a $1,000 donation was appropriate.

We can also say that this is the first-time allegations of racism have been levied at the Board and have to question the timing of this article. We ask that Will County Gazette and reporter W. J. Kennedy fully consider that the world is starving for authenticity and truth, not sensationalistic headlines. In that vein, we ask them to issue an apology for publishing these baseless and potentially harmful allegations.

Images of Ken Burgess and Maripat Oliver provided to Patch with permission to use