SPECIAL Editorial - A Call for an Apology by President Barack Obama to Teja Goode and his family

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
====================January 16, 2013 - TODAY, President Barack Obama historic release on gun violence was marred by his gross error - a racial error.  He seemed oblivious to the harm as he "went down the line in a high five" to Teja Goode.  Teja could be my grandson, even great-grandson.  So, I was highly offended.  The four children were:

• Grant Fritz
• Teja Goode
• Julia Stokes
• Hinna Zeejah.

He spoke of the letters of 3 of the four children on stage - even twice for Julia, but failed to mention the comments of the African American lad from Georgia - Teja Goode.  I am sure he and his family were proud of his contribution.

He literally "berated" and "raped" that child in front of all that were listen. We see too much of that - in schools, society, laws in America and the world's lack of social graces.

As a 67 year old African American woman who go back a minute and remember how we have been looked over, taken less, gone without, worked so hard for so much less due to discrimination and racists practices, demonized due to segregation and lack of enforcement of affirmative action, smiled when we were crying inside, bottled up anger when we get verdicts of justified homicide when the facts were to the contrary; this is wrong, disrespectful and you must be told and held accountable.

Also, as an African American woman from the deep south, we suffered, bled and died to be heard, to be respected at the outset - one of the reason that Barack Obama is President of the United States today.  Therefore, we must always be given our props.  

I find President Barack Hussein Obama snubbing despicable.

Historic
Our children have been blown up and gunned down in schools, cars, homes, yards, streets, street corners and you name it. They have been wrongfully killed and lives shorten due to societal ills that turn-one-on-one, the Ku Klux Klan, segregation, slavery; as well as, so many more by Caucasian law enforcement all over this country.

He should know, his home state of Illinois, has a very telling toll that is lacking his undivided attention as well as his ex-staffer Rahm Emanuel, now mayor.

Our African American boys and girls, ages 6, 16, 26, 36, and on are "gorgeous" to us. They are God’s children too. So, don’t put a wedge – there is already one too big. It creates divisiveness, racial bias and distrust when an African American President, who WOULD NOT be president if it was not for OUR SOLID VOTE (1st and 2nd term).

So, when President Obama and Vice President Biden spoke only of one group of children, he turned off so many that have been plagued but nothing, I mean nothing has been done.

President Obama keeps forgetting African Americans. That is not smart and this will surely come back to haunt him – this is my first contribution.  It will raise its ugly head if Vice President Biden is fostering ideas of presidency in 2016.

Everybody’s uncle and aunt - every Tom, Dick and Harry, Sue, Sally and Jane that is non-African American is up for this law or this position. And, what is this tripping about Harvard and Yale supposedly producing the only folks with brains, solutions and leadership? What's going on here?

An Apology
I am from one of the states that paid political capital of 79% of the vote in the November 6, 2012 election – my vote was cast for him in that percentage. So, get-up-off-of-it Barack – You owe the little boy and his family a big apology.

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