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U.S. Attorney Valukas takes the matter more seriously. He has sent FBI agents into the Melrose Park neighborhood to protect the Sleds. Two weeks after the Sleds moved in, Melrose Park's building commissioner, C. ("Sonny") Stamatakos, cited the house for ten housing-code violations. Stamatakos says the timing was unrelated to the arrival of the Sleds. Valukas says he finds the timing "very curious."
In 1985 the Justice Department sued Melrose Park (pop. 23,000) as well as , twelve other suburbs for discriminatory employment practices. Of 217 city employees, none were black. Melrose Park contested the suit and lost in court.
White families living near the Sleds insist they are not racists. But, they say, they are afraid that the Sleds may be followed by other black families, that white residents will move, then property values will plummet, and the neighborhood will deteriorate. "I'm afraid of what could happen," said one 75-year-old woman. Until 1972 she and her husband lived in Austin, a Chicago suburb that went from predominantly white to predominantly black. "We had to sell our home for nothing," she said. "What happens if this whole doggone neighborhood gets up and leaves? We're too old to move again." She does not know if she can trust her neighbors not to panic and move out. "It's all white people's fault," she said. "Blacks have a right to live where they want."
In recent weeks the incidents against the Sleds have tapered off. A neighbor across the alley has offered to keep an eye on the Sleds' car. Larry Pusateri, the son of the owner of the house, has told the Sleds, "Don't worry, I'm not going to let these bastards move you out." The Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities, an organization that helps minorities find housing and attempts to ease racial tensions, has also come to their aid. Neighbors are talking among themselves about what the violence means for a community that prides itself on its neighborly ways. As for the Sleds, they say their minds are made up. They are staying.