A burning cross seen in Chicago’s Grant Park Tuesday afternoon sparked outrage among some locals, who recognized the historic symbol of hate and racism bluntly placed in a public, high-traffic space.
Police officers responded around 2:30 p.m. to the downtown park, where the wooden cross was burning, according to the Chicago Police Department. Officers extinguished the fire and an investigation is underway, police said. CPD released an image Wednesday afternoon of a man wearing black pants who was observed leaving the scene.
The burning cross was visible from South Columbus Drive, according to Keinika Carlton, 43, who saw the fire as she was driving along Columbus with her daughter and mother-in-law. Carlton recorded the cross burning in a short clip as she passed and later posted it on Facebook.
Shallow flames spilled off the wooden cross, which was propped up against a tree next to the sidewalk. Carlton, a Hyde Park local, said the burning cross seemed to be an intentional symbol of hate.
“It was an eerily controlled fire,” Carlton said. “It didn’t spread like you think it would. It didn’t go ablaze.”
When she saw the cross burning, Carlton said she immediately recognized it as a symbol of hate, often associated with white supremacy. It was one of the most prominent hate symbols used by the Ku Klux Klan in the early 1900s, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
“It was a lot of emotions immediately, because this is definitely an image I am very familiar with as a Black American,” Carlton said. “I know this is something that my grandparents’ generation and great-grandparents had to deal with in the South.”
Carlton’s image of the cross burning took social media by storm, drawing responses from figures including Gov. JB Pritzker, who said in a post Wednesday on X that “hate has no home here in Illinois.”
“This symbol has one purpose: to stir up intimidation and terror,” Pritzker wrote. “We will not be silent — those responsible must be held accountable.”
“Hate has no place in our city,” Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. “Every Chicagoan deserves to feel safe, protected, and respected while going about their day or enjoying our public spaces. We will continue working across City government to uphold that standard and ensure Chicago remains a welcoming, inclusive, and safe place for all.”
The prominent location of the cross and the time the fire was found make this incident like nothing that Nicolas Paul, president of the DuSable Heritage Association, has seen before or recognizes from Chicago’s history, he said. Paul called the burning cross “disturbing” and “out of nowhere.”
Paul hopes that all Chicagoans take a moment to learn the meaning of a burning cross, as well as understand Chicago’s history of being a city of immigrants.
“Chicago is a melting pot where they welcome everyone,” Paul said. “I hope whoever is behind that gets a history lesson.”
The Rev. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Church in Auburn Gresham is offering a $10,000 reward to help find the perpetrator. The money is from a private fund donated by the congregation and individuals outside of the church, according to Pfleger.
“I think we need to handle it just like we do a swastika,” Pfleger said. “This is a hate crime because it is a symbol of hate. If the police do not have a person of interest, we are going to put up a $10,000 reward from our reward fund to have the person or persons involved arrested and charged with a hate crime.”
No arrests had been made as of Wednesday afternoon, according to Chicago police.