EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill — You could pass right by the empty lot on 17th and Bond Street in East St. Louis and not even realize it holds significant historic value.
"Dr. Leroy Bundy, and he was accused of starting the race massacre but of course he didn't, and this is where his home stood, and all accounts, this is one of maybe the most sacred sites," Nonprofit organizer Jeffrey Dixon said.
Nonprofit organizer Jefferey Dixon recounts the history of the 1917 East St. Louis Race Riot when white Americans working in industrial jobs went on strike and companies replaced them with Black workers.
"The white workers got mad and they came down to East St. Louis and they massacred Black Americans," Dixon said.
Reports say anywhere from 50 to 150 Black Americans died. There are 24 sacred sites in East St. Louis that commemorate the men women and children who fell victim to the violence.
"It was not a race riot, it was a race massacre," Dixon said.
Pastor Zach Chike took it upon himself to lay bricks around sacred sign No. 2, formerly known as Dr. Leroy Bundy's property.
"I decorated made a little retaining wall around the sacred site sign and I said, 'You know I'm going to come back tomorrow and put some mulch in there to make it real nice,'" Chike said.
The next day, it was damaged.
"Literally the day after I put this up and it's made visible, somebody comes and rams right into it," Chike said.
"It definitely appeared to be vandalized. The tire marks through the grass shows somebody jumped the curb and came up onto the grass and ran over the sign deliberately," Dixon said.
They're reaching out to city leaders and the SIUE creators behind the sacred sites to fix the memorial, hoping to make it even better.
"This is in the fabric, this is in the DNA of what East St. Louis is, and this is the story of what East St. Louis, and for some reason, people don't like it," Chike said.
East. St. Louis Police were made aware of the incident today.
Chike said there is a chance it could've been an accident.
The 1917 Race Riot lasted three days from July 1 to July 3.
Dixon is hosting the second annual March for Reparations Justice for the lives lost during the massacre on July 2.