How many children could have received better medical care for the $850 million in private dollars and the tens of millions of dollars spent by city government?
The Obama Presidential Center represents the opposite of what Barack Obama is supposed to stand for. It reflects the penchant for glitz rather than substance that hurt the Democrats in 2024.
As to tickets being sold out until November, that is even worse. Half of all tickets should be reserved to be sold in person each day, with a good proportion reserved for residents from Chicago and nearby suburbs and many reserved for students..
— Terry Sanders, Morton Grove
Obama center’s tower a dud
Yes to all the positive things the Tribune Editorial Board mentions in its June 14 editorial about the impact of the new Obama Presidential Center (“Why Chicagoans should welcome, and care for, the Obama Presidential Center,” June 14). No to the obscenely hideous architecture of the tower. It sticks out like a sore thumb.
In this city, where the skyscraper was invented and where modern architecture showed its potential greatness, the Obama center should have been an architectural gem, not a tall concrete bunker.
— Allen Schwartz, Chicago
Uplifted again by the Obamas
I watched the opening of the new Obama Presidential Center on my television and felt the spirit. It was the same high spirit I felt in 2008 in Grant Park when Barack Obama was elected president. That night, the crowd was jubilant, and after his acceptance speech, we walked the streets of Michigan Avenue chanting and singing in celebration. There was no violence, no protests, only joy.
At the Obama center, there was only joy.
Thanks to Barack and Michelle Obama for their integrity, creativity and inspiration. They lifted our spirits again, even across the airwaves.
— Linda A. Morton, Harvard
Comment on Obama’s ego
I was surprised by John Vukmirovich’s letter (“Monument to Obama’s ego,” June 20). Because I can’t think of a single ego-driven thing that former President Barack Obama has ever done.
— Ginny Mahal, Lombard
Disappointed by this writer
After reading John Vukmirovich’s essays and letters to the editor in the Tribune and the Sun-Times over the years, I was somewhat taken aback by his attitude in his letter that was published in Saturday’s Tribune. Was I mistaking depth for shallowness?
— Rocco P. Lotesto, Chicago
Letter descriptive but hateful
John Vukmirovich’s letter was articulate and metaphorical. But it implied so much hate.
— Dennis McClure, Elgin
How Obama, Trump differ
While I was watching the dedication of the Obama Presidential Center, I thought about President Donald Trump and the stark contrast between Trump and Barack Obama. In mathematical terms, Trump believes in subtraction and division. Obama believes in addition and multiplication.
— Paul Rafferty, Chicago
Obama letters are revealing
Congratulations to the Tribune opinion team for knowing that so many readers hold memories of Barack Obama in their hearts and minds.
More Top Picks Misters Patio
The result was a beautiful, varied collection of letters that tell us that the man Michele Obama so lovingly described in her Thursday speech is truly the person so many of us have recognized and admired.
— Mary Ellen Creighton, Forest Park
South Side makes more sense
I can’t help but wonder why a downtown street would be named in former President Barack Obama’s honor. Chicago’s South Side is where he did much of his community work, where Michelle Obama grew up, and where the Obamas have deep roots and still have a family home.
— Robin Langer, Chicago
Reparations in Evanston
I have the profound privilege to serve as the senior minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Evanston. My position has granted me the profound gift of being in collaboration with interfaith colleagues who are wise, compassionate and unfailingly committed to dismantling injustice.
Evanston is a community in which I have participated in interfaith dialogue for more than 15 years. I have participated in and have witnessed the blooming of beloved community that arises out of the hard and honest work of facing our errors and our ignorance with humility, mutual care and in relationship.
One of the most beautiful gifts of my ministry has been joining with my colleagues and friends across various faith communities, mostly serving white congregants, to affirm our support of reparations in Evanston. In 2022 we publicly pledged our support for reparations in Evanston, support we backed with our financial commitments, ongoing collective learning and relational repair.
The clear-cut case for reparations has been made throughout our country, almost immediately upon the liberation of those enslaved. The case has continued to be made for local reparative efforts to align with the need for national reparations. Evanston has been a leader of a movement to engage in the repair of our nation’s most egregious sins, which have mutated and perpetuated harm in countless, insidious ways. An airtight case was made on the need for reparations in Evanston for those who experienced the devastating and generational impacts of racial redlining.
The process of getting there was long and hard fought. Evanston’s interfaith community strongly and without equivocation knows that this is a moral duty of those who have benefited from their whiteness to engage in the emotional, spiritual, intellectual and financial process of repair in whatever ways possible.
The federal government has no right to undo what we, in Evanston, have engaged in, fought for and committed to and that we understand as a necessary part of our collective liberation. We decry the efforts by our national leaders to undermine our sacred right to dismantle white supremacy in all its evil forms.
— The Rev. Eileen Wiviott, senior minister, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Evanston
Contribution to time capsule
While I know it is too late to make a difference, I am very disappointed by Illinois’ contribution to the America 250 time capsule. I read the complete list from all 50 states, and several including our own Illinois seemed to do the bare minimum. Illinois’ complete contribution was a letter from our governor and a poem from our Poet Laureate Mark Turcotte. I don’t have a problem with these two items; I have a problem that they were all that Illinois offered. Even though the size of archive boxes is small, 6 inches by 4 inches by 2 inches, surely there was some relic, memorabilia or artwork that could have been included, as many other states did.
Illinois has a wonderful historical heritage, and none of this will be shown when the time capsule is opened in 2276.
— Janet Urban, Aurora
Questions about Illinois tollway
Friday’s Tribune carried an editorial about a proposed Illinois toll hike (“‘Toll free in ‘73’ was just another empty promise. Buckle up for a 45-cent toll hike, Illinois”). Each time I travel the tollway, two questions occur to me.
Is the seemingly endless tollway road construction really necessary, or is it merely a financial reward for unions and road contractors that support and donate to our state politicians?
I see many cars on the tollway without visible I-Pass transponders. Yes, I know some people pay online, but what percentage of drivers using the tollway actually pay the tolls?
Let’s answer these questions before we demand more money from hardworking Illinoisans.
— John Mulvey, Chicago
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