Snipers on the Roof

We’re all a bit discombobulated after this weekend’s events.

I have strong political beliefs, yet was shaken after the news of an attempted assassination upon President Trump. The subsequent analysis and reporting by the media reminded me of when my husband and I walked down the street for President Obama’s birthday celebration taking place at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. The place was crawling with security.

Even more than a rural area, the crowded urban corner where the event was taking place was full of building, most towering over the ballroom. I saw positioned on all of them security detail. Law enforcement kept a perimeter. Obama’s helicopter landed at the lakefront and he was motored to the event. We saw the black car go by and maybe a glimpse of him going into the Aragon. Then went home.

At this time I was working at our homeless shelter. I asked some of the residents if they caught the hoopla happening almost at our doorstep. They all answered that they stayed away that day. With felony convictions they knew better than to be anywhere near a sitting president. Police would screen them by asking for ID. I didn’t know if this was paranoia or what, as we were not approached, but I also knew I had white skin and given the benefit of doubt.

Still, thinking back to that momentous event in 2011 when President Obama was turning 50 and now a gray-haired former president and another former president and the amount of security it takes to keep them safe—I wonder if all precautions were taken in Butler, Pennsylvania?  

Obama birthday celebration, 2011 Aragon, Chicago