A large burning cross \u2014 a historic symbol of hate and intimidation against Black Americans \u2014 was discovered in a Chicago park where former President Obama famously delivered his acceptance speech when he was elected the nation\u2019s first Black president.<\/p>\n
Tuesday afternoon\u2019s act sent shock waves through a city where more than a quarter of people are Black. Some people drove or walked by, staring, and a video of the cross-burning gained traction online. <\/p>\n
The video, taken by a motorist, shows the wooden cross engulfed in bright orange flames as it leans against a tree in Grant Park, located in the core of the city\u2019s downtown and near Lake Michigan.<\/p>\n
Chicago police urged the public to come forward with any information Wednesday. Police also issued a community alert that included an image of a person walking away from the area.<\/p>\n
Police said the person was seen \u201cfleeing from the scene\u201d where an object was constructed and burned in the park. The alert provided no update on the arson investigation.<\/p>\n
The Chicago Fire Department confirmed the flaming object was a cross and said officials put out the fire.<\/p>\n
Officials with a local Catholic church, The Faith Community of Saint Sabina, posted on social media a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone who was involved. The Rev. Michael Pfleger, senior pastor, called the cross burning an act of hate. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt cannot be tolerated,\u201d Pfleger told TV station FOX 32. \u201cI really believe it should be treated as a hate crime just like a swastika is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keinika Carlton, 43, was driving home from running errands with her daughter and mother-in-law when they saw the cross on fire. She said she felt a combination of shock, sadness and disgust, as well as curiosity.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs this a racial thing? Is this a religious thing?\u201d she said. \u201cAs Black women, of course, our first thought is racial, because burning crosses are known to be used as a tactic, an act of violence toward Black Americans in the South.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carlton estimated the cross was at least 6 feet tall. As they slowed down to shoot a video of the flames, she saw other cars also slowing down and people walking nearby, staring at the burning cross.<\/p>\n
While the motive behind the burning cross was not immediately clear, cross burnings in the U.S. have historically been seen as \u201csymbols of hate\u201d that are \u201cinextricably intertwined with the history of the Ku Klux Klan,\u201d according to a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision written by the late Justice Sandra Day O\u2019Connor. The justices ruled that the First Amendment allows bans on cross burnings only when they are intended to intimidate because the action \u201cis a particularly virulent form of intimidation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alyna Carlton, 22, said she never thought she would see something like that in her lifetime.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt kind of really opened my eyes, had me realize that I\u2019m not that far removed from the past,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Frank Chapman, executive director of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and a Chicago resident, said he is not surprised someone would revive a racist act that younger people thought was history.<\/p>\n
He laid the blame on the current political climate and how people who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, were ultimately not punished. President Trump pardoned, commuted prison sentences or ordered the dismissal of cases for all of the nearly 1,600 people charged in the attack. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe same kind of people got the same white supremacist mentality as a cross-burning,\u201d Chapman said. \u201cSo, they figured like they got a license now … with people pardoned and more or less shaking hands with the devil.\u201d<\/p>\n
Next week, Obama will be joined by other former presidents and dignitaries to dedicate his presidential library, named the Obama Center, on a sprawling complex less than 10 miles south of Grant Park. The center opens to the public on Juneteenth, the federal holiday marking the end of slavery in the U.S.<\/p>\n
Golden writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Terry Tang in Phoenix contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A large burning cross \u2014 a historic symbol of hate and intimidation against Black Americans \u2014 was discovered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":355462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1871,2678,144894,84624,22151,3802,144898,69889,144896,144897,48,52,51,47,50,49,592,288,144895,2281,5050],"class_list":["post-355461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-act","tag-black-americans","tag-chicago-park","tag-chicago-police","tag-cross","tag-fire","tag-grant-park","tag-hate","tag-information-wednesday","tag-intimidation","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-people","tag-resident","tag-shock-wave","tag-u-s","tag-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}