Chicago teen who attended State of the Union hopes to play basketball with Obama
The Chicago teen who was invited to join first lady Michelle Obama for the State of the Union address Tuesday night says he has a new goal — to shoot hoops with her husband.
Malik Bryant, 13, caught President Barack Obama’s attention after his letter to Santa Claus requesting safety from street violence.
"All I ask for is safety. I just wanna be safe," the boy wrote.
ICYMI: Yahoo News SOTU live blog
Malik, a 5-foot-11 seventh-grader whose favorite subject is math, lives on the city’s South Side in the neighborhood of Englewood, which — for many — has become synonymous with street crime.
"It's just a lot of killings. It's really dangerous," he told the Chicago Tribune. "I go outside, and I sit, and I fear a lot, because, you know, I don't want to be the next person."
Malik reportedly aspires to play in the NBA when he grows up, and has already had the chance to meet the Chicago Bulls, thanks to his letter to Kris Kringle.
According to the Chicago paper, he would like to meet Obama on the court because, he said, he "heard from a lot of people that Obama likes to play ball.”
Meet Anthony Mendez, Malik Bryant, & more of the First Lady's guests to the #SOTU on @WHLive → http://t.co/tiKwxIR673 pic.twitter.com/KyypwGVJoy
— The First Lady (@FLOTUS) January 21, 2015
The boy wrote the letter as part of Direct Effect Charities’ Letters to Santa program for students of Chicago public schools.
Michelle DiGiacomo, the charity’s CEO, says she was overwhelmed when she opened Malik’s letter, NBC Chicago reported.
"When I saw that one, my heart leaped out of my chest," she told the local outlet. "What are you going to give a child who asks for safety?"
She included the letter in Direct Effect Charities’ December newsletter, where Spencer Tweedy, the son of Wilco front man Jeff Tweedy, saw it.
Tweedy tweeted it with the caption, “This is a real letter from a kid in Englewood, Chicago.” It was retweeted nearly 6,000 times.
Every year, my friend Michelle does a Letters to Santa drive. This is a real letter from a kid in Englewood, Chicago: pic.twitter.com/66GNaEQx5J
— Spencer Tweedy (@spencertweedy) December 10, 2014
DiGiacomo also forwarded the letter to U.S. Rep. Michael Quigley, whose staff managed to land it in the commander-in-chief’s inbox.
Malik received a letter from the White House signed by Obama himself.
“Each day, I strive to ensure communities like yours are safe places to dream, discover, and grow,” the letter reads, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. “Please know your security is a priority for me in everything I do as President. If you dare to be bold and creative, work hard every day, and care for others, I’m confident you can achieve anything you imagine. I wish you and your family the very best for the coming year, and I will be rooting for you.”
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