The construction of the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago (USA) was paralyzed this Friday (11) after a kind of gallows was found at the site. Those responsible for the construction are offering a reward of US$ 100,000 (R$ 530,000) to anyone who denounces the authors of the installation considered racist.
The gallows was found Thursday morning at the place where Obama, the first black US president, began his career. The tool is associated with the lynchings of thousands of African Americans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
“We have zero tolerance for any form of discrimination or hatred in our workplace,” the Lakeside Alliance, the African-American business alliance responsible for the project, said in a statement. “We are horrified that this has happened.”
At the same time, the group informed that it will take actions to raise awareness and combat discrimination with its employees.
The discovery of the gallows reverberated in the US. On social media, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said that “hatred has no place” in the state and that he will “provide all necessary resources” to help catch criminals. “This gallows is more than a racist symbol, it’s a brutal reminder of the violence and terror inflicted on black Americans over the centuries.”
The future Obama Presidential Center is expected to have a museum dedicated to the career of the former Democratic president, who ruled the US from 2009 to 2017. The site should also house a library, classrooms, basketball courts and spaces for children’s games.
The project was launched in August 2021 in Chicago’s South Side slum, where Obama emerged as an activist and former first lady Michelle grew up.
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