Noose discovered at Obama Presidential Center construction site

A noose was found at the Obama Presidential Center building site in Chicago on Thursday, which led the organisation in charge of the project to halt operations there.

The center’s joint venture, Lakeside Alliance, said in a statement that they had reported the incident to the authorities and will “offer all support necessary to find individuals responsible.”

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According to a joint venture representative, work was still on hold on Friday, but CNN saw workers moving large pieces of equipment there.

“Vehicles will be going in and out of the site today as Lakeside Alliance team members prepare for anti-bias training that will begin next week and to secure the site,” a spokesperson said on Friday, CNN reported. “The Chicago Department of Transportation has a significant project that surrounds the site on three sides, and their work is ongoing.”

The spokesperson added that “ancillary construction services required to maintain the safety and security of the site may occur throughout the day.”

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An earlier statement on Thursday stated that the group has “zero tolerance for any form of bias or hate on our worksite” and offered a prize of $100,000 for information leading to those guilty.

According to the statement released on Thursday, which was in reference to anti-bias training that is a part of its onboarding procedure, “We are suspending all operations onsite in order to provide another series of these trainings and conversations for all staff and workers. We are horrified that this would occur on our site … Lakeside Alliance remains committed to providing a work environment where everyone can feel safe, be their best self, and is treated with dignity and respect.”

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In a statement, the Obama Foundation also claimed that it had alerted law enforcement.

“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 foundation said in a statement.

The Chicago Police Department said they are “aware of this matter and it is under investigation,” CNN reported.

The Barack Obama Foundation formally declared in 2015 that the South Side of Chicago would serve as the site for the Obama Presidential Center. Honolulu, Hawaii, where the former president was born, was also a contender for the library, but Chicago, a city that had previously been favoured, prevailed.

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The complex will house a presidential library and the foundation’s administrative offices.

Obama chose Chicago as the site of his pick because, as he said in the 2015 video announcing it, “all the strands of my life came together” there. He said the city was where he and Michelle Obama first met and where his political career got its start.

However, legal battles and a few local concerns have held the project down. In 2019, a federal judge ruled that the library should be erected in Jackson Park and ordered that work should get started right away. Environmentalists who objected to the use of public land for a private purpose filed the complaint.

In September 2021, the Obamas officially began construction on the centre. Lori Lightfoot, the mayor of Chicago, and J.B. Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, joined them.