Obama Presidential Center will have space named for Hadiya Pendleton, murdered South Side teen

WASHINGTON — Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama are naming a space in their Obama Presidential Center for Hadiya Pendleton, the murdered South Side teen caught in gang gunfire in a park near their Kenwood home just days after she visited Washington to celebrate Obama’s second inauguration.

In a video released by the Obama Foundation on Friday, the day before the ninth anniversary of Pendleton’s death, the Obamas’ said the teen’s name will be on the “winter garden” space in the forum — one of the buildings on the campus under construction in Jackson Park.

The naming announcement comes as the city of Chicago continues to battle chronic, unending gun violence resulting in more than 800 victims in 2021, with seemingly endless tragic stories about bullets ending the lives of innocent youths. Obama tried, but left the White House after eight years with no lasting solutions.

Of all the heartbreaking gun deaths in Chicago during Obama’s two terms, the death of 15-year-old Pendleton was especially troubling to Michelle Obama. Raised in South Shore at 7436 S. Euclid Ave., the first lady heavily related to the Pendleton family.

Read more: https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2022/1/28/22907089/obama-presidential-center-space-named-for-hadiya-pendleton-slain-teen-michelle-2012-inauguration