Spomenik u Prijedoru

     This memorial is to be dedicated to the 3,176 innocent victims of genocide killed in the city of Prijedor, Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the war that engulfed the Balkans between 1991 and 1993.  Situated here in the great city of Chicago, this memorial shall serve as an instrument of hope and peace, reminding all who would look upon it of the tragedies of the past, and the importance in guarding against future atrocities.

     We dream of a world devoid of the pain suffered during those dark years, and hope that future generations do not repeat the same mistakes.  Mindful, we honor our fallen men, women and children, cruelly taken from this world, and with unified voices proclaim a steady vigilance against those forces that seek to blur the history of what occurred.  With this common voice, both mournful and determined, we rise above the ashes of war and reverberate throughout the world, insistent that the past not be ignored or dismissed.  As an appeal to justice, and as an example for our descendants to draw strength and perspective from, we seek above all to be imbedded upon the hearts of all citizens of the world, so that each of us may live in brotherhood and peace.

     The struggles in Prijedor today, decades after the fighting ended, necessitate the world’s attention.  The creeping fog of denial and revisionism is attempting to hide the truth.  For this reason – for the sake of justice – we wish to raise this memorial.  Tragically, in Prijedor, we are continuously denied by the local authorities to erect such a monument.  Even in death, the persecution of our brothers and sisters has continued, having been denied their human rights in life.  The ugly stain of the genocide still lingers, and without solidarity, we ignore the most basic of human dignities – the right to live, regardless of race or creed.

     Upon the shores of Lake Michigan, within the towering city of Chicago, we seek to solemnize a beacon of Prijedor.  To let it be a light emanating from a distant land that brings us all home; to let it join us all together and illuminate the world round; to let it remind us all of the triumph of the human spirit, with all of its flaws and pains, shining evermore in the darkness of our loss.