President Obama Addresses Comments from an ELMS Student!

Last week, John King, the host of CNN's State of the Union and network reporter, came to Elkridge to interview one of our students who will be attending the Inauguration of Barack Obama. Shortly after the interviewing Melvin, John King had the opportunity to interview the President-Elect and he shared a comment made by our very own Melvin.

Here is what John King asked President-Elect Obama:

KING: I spent some time since the election with a young boy named Melvin Thomas. He’s 14 years old, lives just outside of Baltimore, African-American. He says, if I was visiting with him a year and a half ago and said, "Who’s your hero?" he would have said without blinking, "Michael Jordan." If I asked him today, he said, "Barack Obama." And he says, "Barack Obama’s going to change the country." He thinks you’re going to create more jobs. He thinks you’re going to help stop people from hating black people. What’s the burden you feel there and the responsibility to kids like Melvin Thomas?

Mr. Obama addressed Melvin's comment and said:

OBAMA: Well, first of all, I hope that — part of what my election gave to Melvin is he can shoot for the stars. He can go as far as his worth ethic and his — his imagination takes him.

And what I also hope is that not only me but all of us take responsibility for the millions of Melvins out there. There are so many young people with so much talent.

OBAMA: Well, I think that part of what we have to do is make sure that our school system works. Part of it is all of us as parents taking responsibility. Because government can’t do it all. And what Melvin is going to benefit from, hopefully, is some good policies from my White House, but I also hope he’s going to benefit from parents who instill in him a thirst for learning, that he has a community that is supportive of the idea that there’s nothing wrong with black boys, or any American child, hitting the books before they worry about whether they’re popular or whether they’re worrying about their sports. I think that the idea that each and every one of us has responsibilities to the next generation is one of the things that I want to communicate, both on inauguration day and throughout my presidency.

To see the interview, click here
(You will need to scroll down the page to see the segment featuring Melvin)