Monument to victims of Chicago Police torture gets private funding

A $6.8 million grant from private donors will fund new city monuments including the “Chicago Torture Justice Memorial” on the South Side.

Mayor Brandon Johnson and other city officials spent part of Monday’s Juneteenth holiday at an event to announce the donation from the Mellon Foundation.

The memorial to survivors of torture at the hands of the Chicago Police Department will be dedicated to victims of former Cmdr. Jon Burge and his notorious “Midnight Crew” — who are believed to have coerced false confessions from more than 100 people, most of them Black men, between the 1970s and the 1990s.

The police torture memorial was designed by artist Patricia Nguyen and architectural designer John Lee.

The Mellon Foundation launched its “Monuments Project” in 2020 and vowed to spend $250 million over five years “to reimagine and rebuild commemorative spaces and transform the way history is told in the United States.”

The newly announced grant to Chicago is the initiative’s largest grant at this point, according to city officials.

Dan Mihalopoulos is a reporter for WBEZ.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.