Chicago police announced Tuesday that a suspect is now in custody in connection with the burning of a large cross discovered earlier this month in one of the city’s most iconic public spaces.
The cross was found ablaze on June 9 in Grant Park — the same location where Barack Obama addressed the nation after becoming the country’s first Black president following his 2008 election victory.
A man who identified himself to WMAQ-TV as a 21-year-old college student said he was the shirtless individual shown in a photo that police had distributed while searching for a suspect. However, Chicago police did not confirm Tuesday whether he is the person now in custody. The man maintained that his actions were a form of political protest directed at President Donald Trump, and not a racially motivated act.
“I did know about this historical relevance beforehand. But I didn’t know the severity, how racially motivated it may seem from what I did,” the man told the television station. “Cause my protest has nothing to do with race, nothing to do with gender.”
Cross burnings in the United States carry a deep and painful history, long associated with racial terror and intimidation against Black Americans, and frequently linked to the Ku Klux Klan.
The Chicago Police Department’s communications office confirmed a person was being held in connection with the incident but declined to release further details. A request for comment was also sent Tuesday to the prosecutor’s office.
Mayor Brandon Johnson, who is Black, responded to the incident and the man’s televised remarks with a pointed statement. “I can’t speak to anyone’s motives. We can only speak to the impact. And the impact was devastating,” he said.
The man told WMAQ-TV that his target was the “ruling class” and Christian nationalists who back Trump. He explained that he placed a red hat on the cross to represent a MAGA hat associated with the president’s supporters. He insisted that what he did should not be classified as a hate crime.
“I understand why it was interpreted that way, and I apologize for that, but no, the intent was not there,” he said.
Gina Miranda Samuels, faculty director of the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture at the University of Chicago, said the man appeared genuine in claiming he did not intend to send a hateful message toward Black people. Even so, she said the episode highlights how uninformed some people can be about powerful symbols, adding that it reveals a troubling willingness “to use a symbol of hatred and terror in this way.”
The Rev. Michael Pfleger, senior pastor of The Faith Community of Saint Sabina, a local Catholic church, expressed skepticism about the man’s stated ignorance. In a Facebook post, Pfleger wrote: “Your Lawyer Schooled you well.”
Representatives from the church had previously posted on social media offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in the cross burning.
Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to reflect that the man told WMAQ-TV the hat placed on the cross was red, intended to represent a MAGA hat. It was not an actual MAGA hat.
