Le projet d'Obama qui fâche Chicago

Les podcasts de L'Express. En situant à Chicago son "centre présidentiel", Barack Obama pensait bien faire. Marc Epstein nous explique pourquoi il s'est trompé.

Propos recueillis par Eric Mettout (et Louis Coutel à la technique)

Publié le 25/09/2018 à 15:39, mis à jour le 26/09/2018 à 14:57

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August 8, 2018 - Chicago, Illinois, United States: A mural at Kedzie and Van Buren in Garfield Park depicts Oprah, Barack and Michelle Obama, Coretta Scott and Martin Luther King, and filmmaker Tyler Perry. The mural quotes Barack: "We are the change that we seek." The Obama Presidential Center (OPC) is set to occupy close to 20 acres of one of the oldest public parks in Chicago: Jackson Park. The OPC is not a traditional presidential library which are built under the auspices of the National Archive but rather it is a private endeavor of the Barak Obama Foundation who is selling the idea as a place designed to galvanize young people and a community place in which they can find the mentorship they need to put their ideas for change into action. While Obama is embraced in Chicago and specially in the South Side of the Chicago where he did his teaching at the University of Chicago and also did his community Organizing and where he now currently owns a home, the OPC has become the source of sourness amongst amongst ObamaÃs former community who accuse his center to be exactly that which he fought against when he was a community organizer, namely: gentrification, affordable housing, government accountability and transparency. Since the final location of the OPC was announced, the community has strongly protested the Jackson Park location which in essence is taking away a valuable public park and giving it to a private entity. Adjacent neighbors are also worried about the property values and the cost of living which inevitably will rise in a community populated mostly by folks who live paycheck to paycheck. (Nima Taradji/Polaris) ///

The Neighbors v. The Obama Center *** Local Caption *** 06287215 — Oprah Winfrey, Barack et Michelle Obama, Coretta Scott, Martin Luther King et Tyler Perry sur un mur de Chicago, le fief de l'ex-président américain.
Nima Taradji/Polaris pour L'Express

En lançant son ambitieux projet de "centre présidentiel" dans le quartier à 93% noir du Southside à Chicago, Barack Obama ne pensait pas rencontrer une telle résistance de ceux qui, à la fin des années 1990, ont lancé sa carrière politique. Marc Epstein explique pourquoi - et profite de l'occasion pour donner des nouvelles du plus charismatique couple présidentiel du XXIe siècle.

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