The Obama Presidential Center in Chicago was being built when a noose was found on the site on Thursday. This caused the project management team to temporarily stop building.
The construction company alliance Lakeside Alliance said in a statement that they had reported the incident to authorities. They also promised to “give whatever support is necessary to locate individuals responsible.”
Lakeside Alliance
A spokesperson for the partnership said Friday that work had not started again, even though CNN had seen people moving big pieces of equipment at the site.
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Lakeside Alliance team members are securing the property and preparing for anti-bias training to begin next week, the spokesman told CNN on Friday, so vehicles will be entering and leaving the premises throughout the day.
The Chicago Department of Transportation is now working on a big project that will surround the area on three sides.
Issued Statement on Thursday
“Auxiliary construction services that are important for making sure the site is safe and secure may happen all day,” the spokeswoman said.
The organisation issued a statement on Thursday saying they had “zero tolerance for any type of intolerance or hatred on our jobsite.” They offered a $100,000 prize for information leading to the arrest of individuals involved.
A statement released on Thursday said, “We are pausing all activities onsite in order to give another set of these trainings and dialogues to all employees and workers.”
Lakeside Alliance is dedicated to maintaining a workplace where all employees are encouraged to be themselves, treated with respect, and protected from harassment.
Obama Foundation Talked to the Police
This brazen display of fear and hatred is meant to provoke a response and drive a wedge between us. “The welfare of our employees comes first,” said the statement released by the organization’s foundation.
Police in Chicago informed CNN that they are “aware of this situation and it is under investigation.”
The Barack Obama Foundation first said that the South Side of Chicago would be the site of the Obama Presidential Center back in 2015.
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Honolulu, Hawaii, where he was born, was also a strong candidate for the location of the library, but in the end, the former president chose the more popular and well-known city of Chicago.
Organization’s Administrative Offices and Presidential Library
In the 2015 video announcing his decision, Obama said that Chicago was where “all the threads of my life came together.”
He said that it was in this city that he first entered politics, and that it was also here that he first met Michelle Obama.
Lawsuits and some local concerns have stalled the project, though. A federal court in 2019 ruled against a lawsuit that sought to halt the library’s construction in Jackson Park and ordered that work begin immediately.
The complaint was filed by environmentalists who didn’t like the idea of using public land for a private project.
In September of 2021, the Obamas began construction on the facility. Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot also attended.
