The Trenton Times published the following Op-ed on March 3, 2013. To read the full article, click here.
Opinion: Trenton Area Soup Kitchen adult students offer open letters to President Obama
By Times of Trenton guest opinion column
on March 03, 2013 at 6:30 AM, updated March 03, 2013 at 6:37 AMBy TASK adult-education students
Shortly after President Obama’s second-term inauguration in January, some students in Trenton were given an assignment to write letters to him. The students are enrollees in a writers’ workshop for the adult education program at the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK), where they are working with volunteer tutors toward achieving Graduate Equivalency Diplomas. The students were told that no topic was off-limits. The only instruction was to tell the president about their concerns.
They knocked themselves out. Offering their own unique perspective on what’s on the minds of people everywhere in America these days, they wrote about crime and guns, about jobs, housing and education, about their dreams and aspirations. Here are some excerpts.
Dear President Obama:
I’m writing to you about the drugs, gangs and violence that exist in my city. I am also concerned about affordable housing and the high cost of living.
The violence where I live is terrible. I live in the projects and hear guns going off all the time. I live on the third floor and see people selling drugs in the parking lot all day and night. Just yesterday, a young man coming home from school was shot in the head and killed. It happened three doors down from my home. God knows, that could have been me.
— Wanda
Dear President Obama:
I am living in a halfway house in the Trenton area as an alternative to incarceration. My crime was possession of a controlled dangerous substance, for which I was sentenced to a state prison term of three years. I am not proud of what I have done in my past, but I am proud of where I am heading and all I’ve been doing to get there.While I was in prison, I was able to see that the vast majority of people’s crimes included armed robbery, resulting from drug addiction, and other violent crimes that seemed to stem from anger that was never addressed. At present, the law permits these same angry people to purchase guns. The question is: What can be done about it?
— Lillian
Dear President Obama:
I once was homeless and living in a shelter. It was the most difficult experience I ever had to face. Housing is the foundation of life. Without it, a person cannot eat the proper meals, get the proper sleep and have proper hygiene. You can’t focus on applying for jobs when you’re homeless and worrying about all these things and it’s unclear where you’re going to lay your head at night.— Ira
Dear President Obama:
I am concerned about the lack of gun control. I am the mother of a child who was murdered with a gun in February 2004. He was 37 years old. There should be stronger background checks so as to keep guns out of criminal hands.— Annette
Dear President Obama:
On the topic of homelessness, I can say that it is something I have experienced and hope I never have to experience again. It is spirit-breaking to walk past abandoned houses and buildings that are not being worked on or being used for helping the homeless. I hope it will be mandatory for organizations to renovate old buildings and to address issues of homelessness with more than one service, such combining education, housing and recovery from addiction.— Gerald
Dear President Obama:
In your last four years, I hope you do something to stop the violence in our schools. We need to stop kids from killing each other. I believe we need better gun-control laws, better school security and better mental health programs.— Francis
Dear President Obama:
My concerns are about the kids these days and the way they are growing up on the streets, getting into trouble by stealing, holding people up and selling drugs. These kids do not have anything to do. They need to have some kind of activity.If there were workshops to teach them skills and give them more activities, that would make them feel better about themselves. It would teach them some responsibility, as well.
— Bruce
Dear President Obama:
Crime, drugs, alcoholism and homelessness are rampant in our communities and destroying our cities. I know you have a full plate and I realize there is only so much that can be done. But please, is there anything that can be done about this?
— Katherine
Dear President Obama:
I think we should have more jobs for people and more schools for those who did not finish school. There should also be more money for more police officers. I also think that a president like you, Mr. Obama, has the willpower to change the country. You are a role model for me, and I hope that, one day, after I pass my GED and get a job, I will be able to find a beautiful woman like Michelle to be my wife.— Jeffrey
These excerpts were compiled, edited and submitted by Lee Seglem, a member of the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen Board of Trustees and author of the book “In Plain Sight: The Story of TASK.”