When Linda Eastman speaks with such passion about recognizing the diversity in the La Grange community, it is not hard to imagine her once holding her own in the high-pressure world that is the steel business. She had to. She was an African-American woman in a white man’s world.

Today, the La Grange resident may best be described as a community activist considering how many activities she has been and still is associated with. There is the NAACP, the Community Memorial Foundation, League of Women Voters, Girl Scouts and Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital.

Perhaps one of her most defining associations is with the CommUNITY ok Diversity Group, an organization dedicated to acknowledging the cultural differences in all people. The group does celebrate the diversity of La Grange with its Race Unity Rally, this year to be held Wednesday, Sept. 17.

“Any organization out there that is working toward the realization this a diverse world, as long as they have something positive in mind, I’m willing to work with them,” Eastman said. “The rally is just a reminder that if we don’t talk about this in times of peace, then we will be talking about it in times of war. I love La Grange enough to believe that one day we must realize that there has always been an African-American community in the village.”

As for the rally, turnout can always be a little better, she said.

“Our community is missing out,” she said. “It’s wonderful how the young people are taking up the banner of diversity. It’s going to take all of us to take us out of the hole now. That’s the problem. We still have people in La Grange that say they didn’t know African-American people lived in La Grange. If you don’t know what’s going on in your community, how will you know what is going on in the world?”

Eastman said she has found the secret to negotiating the often turbulent seas life can throw in a person’s way.

“I really live by a simple code; do unto others as they would do unto you,” the former salesperson for Inland Steel said. 

Eastman cannot be accused of merely talking the talk when it comes to her commitment to unity.

“I live on Bluff Avenue and the one thing I have always loved about Bluff is this probably is the only part of any community I know that has stayed black and white,” she said. “I love my neighbors. They are neighbors I depend on. We know each other. That’s why I’ve been on this block all these years.”