A Chicago teen who sent a letter to Santa asking for 'safety' for Christmas didn't get a response from the big guy in red, but he did hear back from President Barack Obama.
Malik Bryant, a 13-year-old African-American resident of the Illinois city's crime-ridden South Side, penned the note in conjunction with a local charity's Letters to Santa program.
'All I ask for is for safety. I just wanna be safe,' Bryant wrote.
Soon, Christmas magic took over, and the letter made its way to White House. In his reply to Bryant, Obama said the teen's 'security is a priority for me in everything I do as President.'
'I’m just overwhelmed,' Bryant's mother told the Chicago Sun-Times. 'I still can’t believe it. How fantastic that out of all the problems he has in the world, the president took the time out to write a letter concerning about my son.
'I mean wow, what a Christmas.'
In a video published by the news publication of Bryant opening the letter, the teen said the president's return letter should 'sent a message to everybody that it's not safe out here in Chicago.'
'I'm surprised he wrote it, but like it's not gonna solve like safety reasons out here, it's still dangerous,' Bryant said
The teen said he can 'barely' go outside anymore, even to visit family, and that there's certain blocks in his neighborhood that no one can cross through because 'there's real hard gang banging.'
'I can't go outside and ride my bike. I can't play ball outside,' Bryant said. 'I saw a dude, like, dead.'
Bryant explained moments later that the dead man was actually a fellow teenager with whom he was acquainted and 'somebody murdered him.'
Per the Sun-Times, Bryant was one of 8,500 students across 12 Chicago schools who participated in DirectEffect Charities' program this holiday season.
Bryant's letter to Santa said, 'I would like to ask you sum but first Imma tell you about me. Im a black African American. I stand 5'10. Im in 7th grade. My favorite subject is math. I have 2 siblings living with me and Im the only boy on my moms side of my family. But anyway all I ask for is for safety. I just wanna be safe.
At the bottom he noted that he would also accept a scarf, gloves, hat and school supplies.
'When I pulled this one letter from a seventh-grade class at an Englewood elementary school, I couldn’t stop reading it,' Michelle DiGiacomo, CEO of DirectEffect, told the Sun-Times.
'All this kid was asking for was safety. I was floored.'
DiGiacomo said the charity was planning to have one of its Santas buy Bryant the items appended to the bottom of his letter, but she 'couldn’t stop thinking about it.'
'Then it hit me. Someone bigger than Santa needed to see this letter. I thought the president of the United States needed to see it,' she said.
The non-profit head said she passed the child's letter on to her congressman, Rep. Michael Quigley, and he sent it to the White House.
Days later, the president responded via certified mail.
'Dear Malik: I want to offer you some words of encouragement this holiday season,' Obama, a Chicago native himself who worked as a community organizer on the South Side for several years after he graduated from college, wrote.
'Each day I strive to ensure to ensure communities like yours are safe places to dream, discover and grow. 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.'
He added, 'I wish you and your family the very best for the coming year, and I will be rooting for you.'
Bryant told the Sun-Times that he knows the Obama's note won't have a direct effect on his safety, 'but I’m excited the president of the United States wrote to me, and I can’t wait to show it off.'
The president's letter wasn't all Bryant got for Christmas.
After a copy of his original message to Santa went viral on the internet, the charity brainstormed gifts that he could play with indoors, and secret santas bought him a new computer and a Wii game.
The charity is also trying to help the family find a new apartment in better part of town.
Culled from Dailymail
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