INSIDE THE HOUSE THAT HOPE BUILT
INSIDE THE HOUSE THAT HOPE BUILT
Photo courtesy of The Obama Foundation
Photo courtesy of the Center for New Media
Photo courtesy of The Obama Foundation
grievances to be part of the story of its opening.
And why not? Many people saw their story, their issues, in this memorial to the nation’ s 44th president.
Tara Madison, who worked on the original Community Benefits Agreement campaign and donated to the center, rejects the idea that the building is about one person.“ This center is not self-centered around a man or an ideology,” she said. For Madison, the center has produced tangible outcomes for the surrounding neighborhoods.
These are early days for a building meant to be part of this community for generations to come. Only time will tell what its impact will truly be— on the South Side, on Chicago, on the nation, and on the many people who will tour this place in the coming years.
So far, the first impression has been a good one. Just ask the mother of that little girl who upon learning that women didn’ t get the right to vote until 144 years after the Declaration of Independence cried out the words that rallied millions of dispossessed people to twice elect Barack Obama president of the United States:“ I’ m a human being.” n
Christopher Potts, a lifelong Chicagoan, is a Multimedia Journalism major in Morgan State University’ s School of Global Journalism & Communication. He is a fellow in the school’ s Center for New Media.
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