Hadiya’s folks will humanize gun issue during State of the Union

[Playinghardball]

Found on the ObamaDiary

WASHINGTON — When President Barack Obama turns to gun violence during his State of the Union speech Tuesday, he will likely look up at Michelle Obama’s box in the House chamber and acknowledge the grieving Chicago parents of slain teen Hadiya Pendleton.

Pendleton’s folks, Cleopatra and Nathaniel, through tragedy, are the latest symbols of why Obama is pushing Congress to take measures to stop gun-related bloodshed.

Hadiya, 15, was gunned down Jan. 29 at Harsh Park about a mile from the Kenwood home of the Obama family, a little more than a week after traveling here for Obama’s inauguration.

Other members of the Pendleton family are expected to be on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, attending a Senate Judiciary Subcommitee hearing chaired by Sen. Dick Durbin on how Congress can respect Second Amendment rights to bear arms, while at the same time take steps to curb gun violence.

The hearing will feature a Chicago witness, Sandra Wortham, the sister of slain Chicago Police Officer Thomas Wortham IV, an Iraq War vet shot and killed by a handgun at the age of 30 on May 20, 2010, during a robbery attempt in front of his parents’ Chatham home.

Mrs. Obama — whose daughters are 14 and 11 — took a very unusual action for a first lady last Saturday, returning home to the South Side for Hadiya’s funeral — someone she did not know but nonetheless felt a deep personal

http://www.suntimes.com/news/sweet/18166950-452/hadiyas-folks-will-humanize-gun-issue-during-state-of-the-union.html

[freshwest]

1. A lovely young lady with a beautiful spirit who should have had a long life.

[samsingh]

2. i'm horrified and traumitized by this and other massacres