Supporters of the project said construction of the future Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago was suspended this Friday (11) after a gallows, a very violent racist symbol in the United States, was found on the site.
“We are appalled that this has happened to our project and we are offering a $100,000 reward to find the person or persons responsible,” the Lakeside Alliance, an alliance of African-American businessmen, said in a statement. said.
Reminiscent of the lynching of thousands of African Americans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the gallows-shaped rope was found Thursday morning in the neighborhood where the career of the first black president of the United States began.
“We have zero tolerance for any form of discrimination or hatred in our workplace,” the Lakeside Alliance said, explaining that construction was suspended to hold anti-discrimination sessions with its employees.
“There is no room for hate in Illinois,” commented JB Pritzker, the state’s Democratic governor for the Great Lakes region, on Twitter.
“This gallows is more than a racist symbol, it’s a grim reminder of centuries of violence and terror against black Americans,” he added.
The future Obama Presidential Center will feature a museum dedicated to the career of the former Democratic president (2009-2017), a library, classrooms and meeting rooms, as well as a basketball court and children’s games.
The project was launched in August 2021 and is located on the shores of Lake Michigan in Jackson Park, in the South Side slum where the former president began his career as an activist and where former First Lady Michelle Obama lives. grew up
source: Noticias
