A noose was discovered at the Obama Presidential Center construction site in Chicago on Thursday, prompting the team overseeing the project to suspend work at the site.   

  The Lakeside Alliance, a consortium of several construction companies working at the centre, issued a statement saying they had reported the incident to the police and “will provide any assistance required to identify those responsible”.   

  The group is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to those responsible, their statement said, adding that they have “zero tolerance for any form of bias or hate on our job site.”   

  “We are suspending all field operations to provide another series of these trainings and conversations for all staff and workers,” the statement said, referring to the anti-bias training that is part of the onboarding process.  “We are horrified that this would happen at our site … Lakeside Alliance remains committed to providing a work environment where everyone can feel safe, be their best self and be treated with dignity and respect.”   

  The Obama Foundation also released a statement saying it had notified authorities.   

  “This shameless act of cowardice and hatred is designed to attract attention and divide us.  Our priority is to protect the health and safety of our workforce,” the foundation’s statement reads.   

  The Chicago Police Department told CNN that “they are aware of this matter and it is under investigation.”   

  The Obama Presidential Center was first announced in 2015, when the Barack Obama Foundation officially announced that Chicago’s South Side would be the project’s home.  The former president also considered his hometown of Honolulu, Hawaii, for the library, but Chicago, the longtime favorite for the library, won out.   

  The center will serve as the foundation’s headquarters and presidential library.   

  Obama chose Chicago because – as he put it in his 2015 video announcing his choice – it’s where “all the strands of my life came together.”  He noted that his political career began in the city, where he and Michelle Obama met.   

  The project, however, has been slowed by lawsuits and some local complaints.  In 2019, a federal judge threw out a lawsuit trying to block construction of the library in Jackson Park and said construction should begin immediately.  The lawsuit was filed by environmentalists who objected to the use of public land for a private project.   

  The Obamas finally rushed to the center in September 2021. They were joined by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker.