Construction at the building site for the Obama Presidential Center in Illinois was recently halted after officials with Lakeside Alliance, a joint venture of multiple Black-owned construction companies, discovered a noose on the grounds. An investigation has also been launched by the Chicago Police Department.
“We have zero tolerance for any form of bias or hate on our worksite. Anti-bias training is included in our on-boarding process and reiterated during site-wide meetings. We are suspending all operations onsite in order to provide another series of these trainings and conversations for all staff and workers,” the company said in a statement on Thursday.
“This shameless act of cowardice and hate is designed to get attention and divide us. Our priority is protecting the health and safety of our workforce,” the construction company added.
According to officials from the Barack Obama Foundation, the Obama Center will pay tribute to former President Barack Obama’s legacy as the first Black president of the United States and will economically lift Chicago’s South Side, where over 78% of residents are Black.
The Obama Foundation released a statement calling the incident a "shameless act of cowardice and hate" that is "designed to get attention and divide us."
“Our priority is protecting the health and safety of our workforce,” the foundation said in a statement.
The project was first announced in 2015 by the foundation after the former president had considered Honolulu, Hawaii, which is his birthplace, as a location for the center. Obama previously explained that he settled on Chicago for the center as it is a place where “all the strands of [his] life came together.”
The library, which is being built in Jackson Park, faced backlash when a lawsuit brought by environmentalists against the city argued that public land should not be used for a private project. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit and the foundation began building in September 2021.