Let The President Speak to the Children

Ronald Regan, both presidents Bush and Bill Clinton all took an opportunity to address our nation’s students. It has been documented in photos and videos. Many news shows are showing clips as I write this. The job of our President is to lead the nation. What better way to lead our young people then to tell them to stay in school? How excited I would have been to hear from the Commander in Chief that my nation would be proud of me for my hard work in school. So why is it so difficult for some parents and educators to allow the President of the United States to the youth of this nation?

This will be a political speech and I am sure most parents KNOW it will not be about the economy. Do they assume that he is going to push health care reform to third graders? No, this man is our leader, our top elected official. Face it, he won the election fair and square, didn’t rig any votes, didn’t steal third base. The majority voted for him and though after eight months some love is lost because he did not fix the mess left behind instantly he is still president. Presidents address all sorts of audiences. Because I grew up in an era where no one ever thought any one the color of my skin would aspire to the top office I wonder if some of these fears of having a black president address young people have to do with parenting styles that have taught children that people of color are ignorant. If you have spent your entire young life hearing that you will probably be in a world of confusion to have the President, a very smart man who is a person of color, tell you to stay in school just like he did.

The truth is this is more about party politics than race. Someone in the education department said the president wanted the young people to write to him and work with him and immediately it became political. Is President Obama trying to make your children Democrats before they can vote for the prom king and queen? No he just wants them to work with him on being honorable people who will continue to educate themselves for the better. He wants them to have a good life. He wants them to be good Americans.

This is simple and yet it has exploded into controversy. Too much ignorance abounds in the nation at this time and too many people are capitalizing on it for their own agenda. The media often shows too much of this sadness. My favorite example of this is the man who stood up in one town meeting and said the U.S.S. Constitution does not promise anything about health care. He had to be told the U.S.S. Constitution was a ship not a document that incorporated our freedoms.

Maybe this is what the President is trying to combat when he says he wants to address our students.

A woman said her children didn’t need to hear the president. Oh yes they do. Its time to make them aware that every person of every culture who is a citizen of this county has a right to run for the highest office. Of course there are exceptions- but the exception is not the color of their skin. This is the first president of color and there are a lot of children of color and of every race who need to know that he is behind them as they walk the halls of knowledge. For some Black, Native American, Irish, Italian, Jewish, depending on where you grew up the halls were torture for you ancestors or they were not allowed in. This Presidnet wants our children to be safe, healthy and educated. He wants them to understand that to aspire to the American dream they need to work hard.

And those children who have yet to realize that the wall of presidents has a new member with a new face and a new color need to see him. The “huddled masses yearning to be free” did not all come here voluntarily. You may or may not learn that in history class but you might learn a little of it if you are taught that this is the first president of color.

Your children need to be a part of this history- the first black President addressing the students. It is not a racial move, it is not a party move- it is a Presidential move. Come on America let the man be the President.