After years of stops and starts, Mayor Brandon Johnson stood alongside survivors, artists and city officials in Washington Park on Wednesday morning as the city finally broke ground on the long delayed Chicago Torture Justice Memorial. The event marked a tangible step toward the memorial that was written into the city’s 2015 reparations ordinance for survivors of police torture. Organizers say the site will honor survivors’ names, create room for gatherings and serve as a public space for education.
The City of Chicago signaled the moment in real time, posting a “watch live” notice on its official X account and streaming the ceremony, according to City of Chicago. A short program at the Martin Luther King Jr. Drive site brought together elected officials and members of the Chicago Torture Justice Center.
From Ordinance To Reality
The memorial was promised as part of the city’s 2015 reparations package for survivors of police torture, which included financial compensation, educational benefits and a formal apology, as detailed by ProPublica. Survivors and advocates have spent more than a decade pushing for a permanent, public monument while designs and funding moved through the city process.
Design, Location And Money
The chosen design for the monument, titled “Breath, Form & Freedom,” comes from artist Patricia Nguyen and architectural designer John Lee, according to The TRiiBE. City Council documents show the project will rise on a series of lots along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. A council committee recently recommended using Open Space Impact Fee funds to move ahead at 5520 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, according to a City Council committee report.
The memorial is also one of several monument projects that received a boost from a Mellon Foundation grant announced by the city in 2023, according to CBS Chicago.
Survivors See A Long Fight Start To Pay Off
For longtime organizers, the shovels in the ground were about more than construction timelines. They framed the moment as a public reckoning arriving later than it should have. “It helps to keep their names alive,” organizer Mark Clements told The TRiiBE, summing up survivors’ insistence that testimony and remembrance sit at the heart of the design. Speakers at the event also underscored that the memorial is intended to function as a teaching space for schools and community groups.
What Still Has To Happen
Officials at the groundbreaking did not offer a firm completion date. Standard next steps include permitting, site preparation and procurement before full construction can start. City Council action last winter shifted four city owned lots into the project, and organizers have put the broader cost at roughly $4.7 million in recent coverage of the council vote, according to reporting on the roughly $4.7 million project. Survivors say they want the completed memorial to host ceremonies, school visits and neighborhood events.
Wednesday’s ceremony, streamed by the city and attended by the mayor, marked the first visible on the ground move toward fulfilling a promise made more than a decade ago. Organizers cautioned that turning the memorial into a lasting place of remembrance will still take sustained funding and steady community stewardship, even if the long wait for a groundbreaking is finally over.
