Juneteenth at the Obama Presidential Center

The energy in the Plaza on the Juneteenth was undeniable. I believe I labelled it as electric multiple times because there was truly no other word to describe it. I observed everything around me as someone that has grown to love this city so deeply. People from all over the country came together and stood in lines to experience the same thing. That’s what the Obama Presidential Center means for many; hope.

Dario and I arrived on campus earlier than most to check in for our media credentials and dozens of people were already lined up waiting to take pictures with the statue of the Obamas that stands at the north end of the Plaza. From family reunions, Obama ‘08 t shirts, to Forever44, people were there because the Obama name meant something different to each of them. Some told us stories of being on the campaign trail, others spent months knocking on doors in their community, many were too young to vote but were there for the feeling of the first black president coming into office.

“Growing up I was not allowed to play in the living room. You couldn’t, you couldn’t sit in there. And just in case you decided that you were gonna be sneaky and go in the living room, they put plastic on the furniture. But the living room was always the one room in the house where people invested the most resources for the presentation. So they spent money on the best couches and on the best furniture and the best lamps and it was for the purpose of showing your family and company that you had made it ... that you were doing well. It is also the one room in the house that was for everyone but the people who lived there. For a very long time Chicago has been like a living room with plastic on the furniture for some people. Where they didn’t feel welcome. That this place was not for you. It was for everyone else. It was for people who visited here. The Obama Presidential Center is going to become the new living room for the city of Chicago, but it doesn’t have plastic on the furniture.” - John Robinson, Executive VP

Well before the buildings opened at 11am, hundreds of people had already lined up to be amongst the first group to make it into the Museum. A five story building (really eight but some floors are not open to the public) houses the story of this country. Once you make it to the second floor you are welcomed by the declaration of independence, items that belonged to the founding fathers, ephemera that tells the story of the birth of a nation. Quickly you are reminded that there was always darkness and perspective matters when you’re looking at history. This museum isn’t simply about the Obama administration and the work they’ve done, this is a story of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Travelling through the floors of the museum, decades of activism and oppression are often sandwiched between moments of hope; stories of people that beat the odds and made a change. I browsed the walls but more importantly, I watched people take in everything around them. I saw tears, shock, and memories coming back.

I might go on record to say that I saw the largest electric slide on opening day! We made our way through the crowds towards the Great Lawn. We later learned from Michael Strautmanis, Executive Vice President for Public Engagement at the Obama Foundation, that the Great Lawn was made to look like rolling hills intentionally. Michael Obama had told a story about how she always wished there was a place on the South Side where she could go sledding as a child and so they built one! I will be back, sled in tow this coming January. It was also as if this place had always been there. Children just instinctively knew that they needed to roll down the hills. It felt magical watching them play and run as an Elsa impersonator blew giant bubbles in the background.

To make your way to Home Court, you need to pass by the Playground which I am endlessly jealous of. Dario took on the slide and landed three feet out like a skipping stone, so anyone over 100lbs beware the fast slide. Even in the early hours before the buildings on campus even opened, children were playing, people walked their dogs, and couples sat on benches sipping coffee; the park fit right in. Home Court will be the home court for many generations to come.

We took the winding road on the east end of campus back north towards the Fruit and Vegetable Garden. On our way, Rev. Sharon stopped us and asked if she could take pictures of us and with us, not because she knew us or recognized Dario’s laugh, but because she promised her friend that she would share every moment from this monumental day. She wanted to capture everyone and everything. At the Garden, we played Bingo and collected a tomato plant from Urban Growers Collective, a seed pod from Chicago Botanic Garden, and endless pictures of every pepper and strawberry growing. In our conversation with Chef Cliff Rome, leading the food and beverage at OPC, he was excited to share that the Garden will in fact provide for the Tafari’s Restaurant on campus. The Garden will also hold SO. MUCH. PROGRAMING. Urban Growers Collective and Chicago Botanic Garden will both lead the programs.

When we spoke to Tina Tchen, the Executive Vice President of Programs for the Obama Foundation, about all the programming coming to the campus, I felt like a dog hearing all their favorite words! I was excited to learn that the library will function like any other neighborhood library; stay tuned for my agenda to get a knitting circle going in there. The possibilities are endless and that was consistent with the overall feel of being there.

Like many Chicagoans, I had my concerns. How would this shape the future of the neighborhood? Who would feel welcome here? Would there be a real investment in the people and culture that have always made this place what it is? If opening weekend was any indication, those fears started to quiet. What I felt instead was pride. Pride that this campus is in our city and exactly where it belongs: on the South Side. I’m excited to see the South Side finally receive the spotlight it has long deserved. These communities have always been doing the work, creating culture, building institutions, and showing up for one another, even when the city failed to do the same. Now the rest of the world gets to experience what so many of us have always known. The food. The history. The culture. The people. All of it has been placed on a national stage, and people get to experience and love it the way we’ve had the privilege to for years. The narratives become harder to maintain when people can finally come and see for themselves.

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