Orland Mayor's 'Go To Another Country' Remark Draws Heat

ORLAND PARK, IL — Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau has drawn the ire of the Chicago Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations for his commentary after some residents asked local officials to take a stance against the Israel-Hamas war.

More than a half-dozen Arab American residents spoke at the Feb. 5 Village Board meeting, imploring Pekau and the Orland Park Board of Trustees to adopt a resolution calling for a cease-fire. The residents had collected 800 signatures on a petition asking officials to act.

"What side of history does Orland Park want to stand on?" said lifelong Orland Park resident Yousif Zegar. "The side that did nothing, or the side that had compassion for innocents?"

After several addressed the board, the meeting grew raucous, with chants of "ceasefire now!"Pekau called for a recess and had security clear the room. After the meeting reconvened, Pekau continued his comments, emphasizing first that the opinions were his own and not that of other officials.

“First and foremost, I’m an American. I’m not a German American, I’m an American," Pekau said. "That’s where my allegiances lie. Period. Dot. End of Story.

“And if you’re an American citizen, and you don’t feel that way, in my opinion, you’re entitled to that opinion, but you can certainly go, and go to another country and support that country, and all the power to you if you choose to do that. ... I will always support America’s interests.”

CAIR responded to Pekau's comments Tuesday, decrying them as "ignorant and dangerous."

“CAIR-Chicago condemns in the strongest terms the ignorant and dangerous remarks made by Orland Park’s mayor," CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab said. "The notion that Americans who disagree with an official should pack up and leave to another country is more befitting of the 1960’s Soviet Union, rather than of the United States, where freedom of expression and conscience is a founding principle of this country and its constitution.

"The mayor would do well on brushing up on our own history before he mischaracterizes the history of other regions. His words and actions have shamed the office he holds and an apology is warranted. Moreover, the mayor is probably blissfully unaware that 61 percent of Americans support a ceasefire. So he is asking for most of the country to pack up and leave."

Pekau responded Tuesday night, saying CAIR and protesters "are mischaracterizing what happened ... and are attempting to create a controversy where one does not exist.

"I gave full attention and respect to each person who commented," Pekau went on to say. "In addition, each attendee who wished to give public comment was afforded the opportunity to speak without interruption. Unfortunately, I was not given the same courtesy during my comments."

Pekau stressed in his statement that "CAIR selectively quoted my comments." You can see Pekau's entire remarks on the Village's YouTube.

As he continued during the meeting, Pekau went on to say that as mayor he does not have any influence on foreign policy, and that he supports America’s official position to "support a two-state solution and that Hamas is a terrorist organization."

He noted that Orland Park is deeply divided on the conflict, and "and therefore we are not getting involved."

Residents speaking to the board were of Palestinian descent, stressing also that a large portion of the Orland Park population shares that identity. A November 2023 study cited that Cook County has the largest Palestinian population of any other county in the nation, WBEZ reported. Many live in Orland Park, Oak Lawn, Tinley Park and Bridgeview, the Sun-Times reports.

"It is easy to view this crisis as distant, unrelated to the daily life of Orland Park," Zegar told the board. "We have been vital contributors to society, and love our place here in Orland Park. We are business owners, doctors, lawyers, educators. We support our local economy and spend our money here. We pay our taxes here, we own the homes here, and we participate in the elections that have put all of you on the bench before us. …

"Our community is hurting. Members of this community have lost friends and family members. If nothing more, we want to feel heard in our hometown. We want to feel pride for Orland Park, even if it’s just via symbolic gesture of solidarity."

Zegar also listed larger cities such as Chicago and San Francisco that have adopted cease-fire resolutions.

"I don’t want to look anything like [Chicago] or San Francisco," Pekau retorted. "And if that’s what you want to live, how you want to live, then go live there. ‘Cause Orland Park ain’t it."

In response to Zegar's claims of hate crimes against Arab Americans locally—including an elderly man charged with a hate crime after a dispute with a neighbor over a garbage can—Pekau said those instances have been handled according to police procedure.

"I heard hate crimes brought up, and there was one that I’m aware of from a disturbed elderly gentleman," Pekau said. "There were other things that he said as well, and he was arrested as he should have been, and that’s exactly how we treat everybody here. That has nothing to do with foreign policy."

CAIR's Rehab called Pekau's comments at the meeting "racist ugly rants from a tone deaf local official.

"Palestinian and American Muslims constitute a significant portion of the Orland Park community, socially, culturally, and economically," Rehab said in a statement. "They deserve better than to have their genuine angst in the face of civilian massacres committed by the Israeli government be dismissed with racist ugly rants from a tone-deaf local official who fails to do basic homework on both contemporary and historical facts, here and abroad."