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Obama Presidential Center job listings push ‘anti-racism’ pledge ahead of opening
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The Obama Presidential Center is just months away from opening in Chicago, officially accepting job applications for individuals who share the organization’s commitment to «anti-racism and equity,» according to its website.
«When people come here, we want them to feel what makes the South Side so special,» former President Barack Obama said in a video message posted to social media Tuesday announcing the job openings. «The mix of warmth and grit, the sense of humor that can brighten any day, the creativity that turns challenges into opportunities, and the joy that shows up in every block, every place of worship and every family reunion.»
The presidential center, which is expected to open on Chicago’s South Side in June, is looking to fill 150 job positions stretching from custodians to «ambassadors of hope» who greet visitors. Applications are open until Jan. 31.
The Obama Foundation’s website underscores its commitment to being an «anti-racist» organization throughout its main web page focused on careers, as well as within the job descriptions for the available roles.
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Former President Barack Obama’s presidential center is slated to open in Chicago in June. (Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)
Within its job description advertising for a full-time security officer, for example, the website notes that it is an equal opportunity employer that is «deeply committed to creating an actively anti-racist organization, leveraging our global reach to combat systemic racism and inequity wherever it exists.»
The center describes its team as «equal parts dreamers and doers» and who «care as much about how we achieve our goals as we do about the goals themselves.»
«We are also committed to creating an anti-racist organization in order to do our part to help combat racism and inequity in all forms, in communities across our nation and around the world,» the Obama Foundation’s main webpage for careers states.
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The Obama Foundation directed website visitors and potential hires to read its lengthy statement on anti-racism and equity, which highlighted that the organization is working to build a network committed to addressing systemic racism and gender discrimination, stressing that combating inequity requires not just policy changes but sustained cultural and institutional commitment.
Construction continues at the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
«That’s why our goal is to make sure every member of the Foundation team is committed to anti-racism, sets expectations for how we will engage, and makes space for the work,» the statement said. «We’re focused on making sure our actions match our intent – removing barriers for diverse vendors, building anti-racism and equity into our hiring practices, and recruiting diverse cohorts for our leadership programs. We also want to be strong partners, working with members of the predominantly Black community that is our home, and the future home of the (Obama Presidential Center).»
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Fox News Digital reached out to the Obama Foundation Friday morning inquiring if there’s a mechanism or process to determine a potential hire is aligned with their «anti-racist» vision, and if it will accept applications from noncitizens, but did not immediately receive a reply.
Obama’s presidential center underscoring its commitment to anti-racist policies comes after President Donald Trump took a hatchet to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) within the federal government upon his return to the Oval Office, which has had a cascading effect throughout private industry.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, left, joins former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama in a ceremonial groundbreaking at the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park Sep. 28, 2021, in Chicago. ( Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Trump signed an executive order on day one of his second administration, for example, titled «Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,» which directed federal agencies to stamp out DEI-style programs across the federal government. The following day, Trump signed a second order aimed at «restoring merit-based opportunity,» including changes to federal contracting and related compliance.
«We’ve ended the tyranny of so-called Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies all across the entire federal government and indeed the private sector and our military. And our country will be woke no longer,» Trump said in March during a joint address to Congress celebrating his early wins of the administration.
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Obama’s presidential center is set to open its doors in June after years of delays, including lawsuits and federal reviews that pushed the timeline back from its initial 2021 expected opening. The center will include a handful of attractions, including the presidential library, a museum, auditorium, a Chicago Public Library branch, a garden, athletic facility and other attractions on its roughly 20-acre campus.
An aerial view shows construction of the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park, Chicago, where costs have soared and questions remain about the project’s funding. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
The building has faced sharp scrutiny and mockery from some locals, who have previously lampooned the design of the massive, mostly window-less building, with the New York Post reporting some Chicagoans refer to it as the «Obamalisk.»
Obama Foundation Deputy Director Kim Patterson defended the architecture in December 2025, telling CBS News that the design of the building was intentional, including to protect artwork within the building.
«The shape of the building was actually meant to mimic four hands coming together to show the importance of our collective action,» Patterson told the outlet.
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«There are not a lot of windows on the building, but that’s intentional, because sunlight is just not a friend to the artwork and the artifacts that are going inside of the building,» Patterson added of why the building has few windows.
barack obama,chicago,dei,presidential
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that U.S. sanctions on Cuba are tied to political change on the island, as the country faces widespread blackouts, unrest and a worsening economic crisis.
«Suffice it to say that the embargo is tied to political change on the island,» Rubio told reporters at the White House. «The law, it’s been codified. And, but the bottom line is their economy doesn’t work. It’s a nonfunctional economy. It’s an economy that has survived.… That thing they have, has survived on subsidies from the Soviet Union and now from Venezuela. They don’t get subsidies anymore. So they’re in a lot of trouble. And the people in charge of them don’t know how to fix it. So they have to get new people in charge.»
Rubio’s comments come as Cuba faces a deepening energy crisis that has fueled protests and instability.
A nationwide power grid collapse left roughly 10 million people without electricity, according to U.S. Embassy statements and Cuban authorities.
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People walk on the street during a blackout in Havana, March 16, 2026. (Ramon Espinosa/AP)
President Donald Trump indicated his administration is actively engaged.
«Cuba right now is in very bad shape. They’re talking to Marco,» Trump told the reporters, «We’ll be doing something with Cuba very soon.… We’re dealing with Cuba.»
Trump escalated his rhetoric against Cuba Monday, saying he expected to have the «honor» of «taking Cuba in some form» and that «I can do anything I want» with the neighboring country.
A senior State Department official rejected claims that U.S. sanctions are responsible for the humanitarian situation, saying, «Widespread blackouts have sadly become common for many years in Cuba — a symptom of the failing regime’s incompetence and inability to provide even the most basic goods and service for its people.»
«This is the tragic result of over 60 years of Communist rule,» the official added. «An island that was once the crown jewel of the Caribbean has plunged into extreme poverty and darkness.
«As President Trump has said, what is left of the regime should make a deal and finally let the Cuban people be free and prosperous, with the help of the United States,» the official told Fox News Digital.
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Protesters gather outside a Communist Party headquarters in Morón, Cuba, as a fire burns in the street during overnight unrest. Video obtained by Fox News Digital appeared to show demonstrators attempting to set fire to the building amid protests linked to widespread blackouts. (Reuters)
Cuban human rights activist Rosa María Payá argued that the current crisis reflects systemic collapse inside the regime, not external pressure.
«The blackout is the regime’s collapse made visible: 65 years of totalitarianism finally consuming itself,» Payá told Fox News Digital. «The protests are Cubans refusing to disappear into that darkness.»
She rejected claims that U.S. sanctions are driving the humanitarian situation.
«Cubans are not suffering because of American policy,» she said. «They are suffering because of a dictatorship. Pressure on the regime works. What hurts the Cuban people is legitimizing it.»
«The only way to end the humanitarian catastrophe is to end the regime,» Payá added. «That’s the demand of the Cuban people.»
Recent blackouts and shortages have been linked to failures at key infrastructure, including the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric power plant, as well as fuel shortages following U.S. actions to curtail oil shipments from Venezuela, one of Cuba’s primary energy suppliers.
At the same time, Pentagon officials told lawmakers there are no plans to invade Cuba, even as they described it as a long-standing security concern.
Joseph Humire, performing the duties of assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and Americas security affairs, said he was «not familiar with any plans on Cuba» when asked during a House Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday.
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Riot police walk the streets after a demonstration against the government of President Miguel Diaz-Canel in Arroyo Naranjo Municipality, Havana, on July 12, 2021. (Yamil Lage/AFP)
He described Cuba as «one of the strongest intelligence adversaries that we’ve had in the United States,» adding that Cuban officials have operated across the region and were «defending Nicolás Maduro… in Caracas» during past operations.
Cuba’s government has blamed U.S. sanctions for worsening the crisis, while U.S. officials argue it stems from decades of economic mismanagement and reliance on foreign subsidies.
cuba,marco rubio,secretary of state,state department,donald trump
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‘Deeply disturbing’ animal cruelty operation involving baby monkeys busted by ICE investigation
Trump Cabinet teams up to end animal abuse
Attorney General Pam Bondi, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. discuss why animal cruelty is so important to end on ‘My View with Lara Trump.’
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A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigation in Florida busted a «deeply disturbing» illegal animal cruelty operation involving baby monkeys by U.S. citizen Francisco Javier Ravelo.
According to the Justice Department, Ravelo, 36, pleaded guilty in federal court to distributing videos depicting the torture of both adult and baby monkeys that involved mutilation and burning. The DOJ said Ravelo personally distributed more than 40 torture videos and that his actions violated the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act, which was signed into law by President Donald Trump during his first term.
Ravelo now faces up to seven years in prison.
The DOJ said the animal cruelty scheme was exposed by an investigation by ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), which is the primary criminal investigations arm of the Department of Homeland Security.
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An investigation by ICE Homeland Security Investigations led to U.S. citizen Francisco Javier Ravelo pleading guilty to distributing videos depicting the torture of both adult and baby monkeys that involved mutilation and burning. (Arnulfo Franco/AP Photo; ICE)
Jason Reding Quiñones, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, called the case «deeply disturbing» and evidenced a willingness on the part of Ravelo to «inflict suffering without remorse.»
«As a former state court trial judge who presided over domestic violence cases, I was trained to recognize lethality factors, warning signs that violence is escalating. Deliberate cruelty to animals is one of the clearest red flags,» he said. «It reflects a willingness to dominate, torture, and inflict suffering without remorse.»
Quiñones condemned Ravelo’s actions in no uncertain terms, calling it a «serious federal crime» that he said «fuels a market built on brutality.»
Adam Gustafson, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, commented that «if you are involved in this sadistic activity, we will prosecute you.»
Meanwhile, Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said that while Ravelo «didn’t count on HSI being able to track him down, pull together evidence and present it to the judge … now he knows better.»
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT FROM VENEZUELA LEARNS SENTENCE FOR BITING ICE AGENT, WITH INJURY SEEN IN PHOTO
Screenshots taken by ICE of a video distributed by Ravelo depicting the torture of a monkey. (ICE)
«Homeland Security Investigations pieced together the case that led to Ravelo’s guilty plea,» said Lyons, adding, «I hope this serves as a warning to others who acquire or distribute this kind of content: HSI will find you, and you’ll end up in federal court just like Ravelo did.»
Upon signing the PACT Act in 2019, Trump said, «It is important that we combat these heinous and sadistic acts of cruelty, which are totally unacceptable in a civilized society.»
Trump said that the passage of the PACT Act was «something that should have happened a long time ago.»
This year, Trump also launched a new multi-agency initiative to strengthen enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act, specifically targeting chronic puppy mill violators and dogfighting rings. The move was commended by Humane World for Animals.
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President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026, in Washington. (Evan Vucci/AP Photo)
In a statement announcing the initiative, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said that Trump administration agencies are «taking historic actions» to hold chronic pet welfare violators accountable.
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The agency said the initiative «will boost compliance with existing laws, protect our companion animals,» and reiterates that the Trump administration «stands with the majority of Americans» who are pet owners.
homeland security,pets,donald trump,justice department,police and law enforcement,florida
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