Chicago shooting victim Hadiya Pendleton's mother will be Congressman Brad Schneider's guest at Tuesday's State of the Union Address, according to his office.
Hadiya, 15, an honors student at King College Prep in Chicago, was gunned down in a park last month about a mile from President Obama's Kenwood home. She had recently returned from his inauguration, where she had performed with her school band.
Schneider invited her mother, Cleopatra Cowley, to attend Tuesday's State of the Union Address last week. The Chicago Tribune reported Monday that Cowley and Hadiya's father, Nathaniel A. Pendleton, will sit with First Lady Michelle Obama during the speech.
Regardless of the seating arrangements, Cowley will be there as Schneider's guest, explained his spokeswoman Staci McCabe.
“I am honored and humbled to be able to have Cleopatra Cowley, Hadiya’s mother, join us at the State of the Union address," Schneider said in a statement to Patch. "Her voice is a powerful and tragic new one joining the chorus of concerned citizens calling for sensible action to reduce gun violence in the future. Our hearts were broken by the sudden and tragic passing of Hadiya Pendleton. As a nation we can’t continue to watch as members of our community—children—are being killed day after day.”
Michelle Obama was one of the many city, state and national dignitaries who attended Hadiya's funeral this weekend. Her death has come to symbolize the cost of gun violence for many.
The president will use the State of the Union address to press for new gun control measures, the Tribune reports.
Neighboring Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky announced last week that Evanston resident Carolyn Murray—whose 19-year-old son, Justin, was fatally shot in November—will be her guest of honor at the State of the Union Address.
I do so hope you continue to enjoy your bitterness. That's about all you've got. Now, I must get back to planning how I'm going to help Barack turn the U.S. into a communist Muslim state.
The last thing we need in this nation is our gov't taking away our right to bear arms--because they WON'T be able to take the guns away from all of the criminals. The person who killed the children at Newtown had mental problems and never should have had access to guns. The people who killed Hadiya were gang-bangers with illegal guns. I am not a gang-banger nor do I have mental issues. I want to keep my right to own my firearms.
From Conservapedia: "A liberal is someone who favors censorship of Christianity as well as increased government spending, power, and control, as in ObamaCare. Increasingly, liberals side with the homosexual agenda, including supporting homosexual "marriage". Many liberals favor a welfare state where people receive endless entitlements without working. Liberals are often anti-Christian, or otherwise disagree with moral or social principles held by many American Christians. The liberal ideology has worsened over the years and degenerated into economically unsound views and intolerant ideology. Some liberals simply support, in knee-jerk fashion, the opposite of conservative principles without having any meaningful values of their own." That is really really good! But here's a more accurate definition: (from Wikipedia, and minus the political agenda) "Liberalism (from the Latin liberalis)[1] is a political philosophy or worldview founded on ideas of liberty and equality.[2] Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally they support ideas such as free and fair elections, civil rights, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, free trade, and private property.[3][4][5][6][7]" Your definition is much funnier though!
Okay, back to the topic. Please continue.
I expect the typical reaction from those on the other side of the aisle. Go for it.
Agree also that the upcoming "war on guns" will also prove a failure and just another thing that will divide us as a nation. The Chinese, along with the rest of the world, are laughing at us.