People attend a candlelight vigil for Wadea al-Fayoume in Oak Brook, Illinois on Sunday, Oct. 22, 2023. - Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune/TNS
Sunday after sunset, on a patch of grass near the Bath and Tennis Club in Oak Brook, a crowd gathered with candles in the dark. The quiet of the night was punctuated with the chirping of crickets. The vigil for Wadea al-Fayoume, the 6-year-old Palestinian boy who was stabbed to death in an alleged hate crime in unincorporated Plainfield Township a week earlier, was a silent one — organized with no political objective in mind. A poster board showed images of the boy, with some messages displayed. “Kids are innocent!” one read. ”Let’s pray that we all take a moment, every day, at least 20 minute...
