The New York Times is reporting that twenty-six children from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., will join Jennifer Hudson to sing at the Super Bowl to honor the 26 children and school staffers killed in a shooting massacre last month.
The children will be shown live singing “America the Beautiful” with Hudson before Alicia Keys performs the national anthem. USA Today reported that the N.F.L. confirmed the performance.
The Super Bowl is more than a game; it’s a national event. But is there a touch of exploitation in the move? Maybe even a hint of political commentary? Some readers at ProFootballTalk.com seemed to think so, although they may change their minds if they watch the children sing.
In the YouTube video below, Ingrid Michaelson led a children’s choir from Newtown in a rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”
President Obama met with the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting today, and broke some news during his speech telling the audience that it was time for the nation to come together and do what was necessary to protect our children.
The President hinted that there will be new legislation in the coming months geared towards guns. “This is our first task,” Mr. Obama said, “caring for our children. If we don’t get that right, we don’t get anything right. That’s how as a society we would be judge.”
The President goes on to say that “we’re not doing enough” to stop gun violence, “and we would have to change.”
And in his most direct sentence signaling change, the president said, “in the coming weeks I’ll use whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow citizens from law enforcement to mental health professionals to parents and educators in an effort to prevent more tragedies like this. Because what choice do we have?”
A heartbreaking story of a 6 year old girl. She was in one of the classrooms when the shooter Adam Lanza, entered and began shooting. The little girl laid among her classmates as they were being killed. She pretended to be dead herself and after it was all over, she ran out of the building covered in her classmates blood.
When she got to her waiting mother she said, “Mommy, I’m okay, but all my friends are dead.”
Her story was retold by a pastor, who offered grief counseling the little girl’s mother after the incident. The other 15 students in her class were all killed.
This afternoon I spoke with Governor Malloy and FBI Director Mueller. I offered Governor Malloy my condolences on behalf of the nation and made it clear he will have every single resource that he needs to investigate this heinous crime, care for the victims, counsel (for ?) their families.
We’ve endured too many of these tragedies in the past few years, and each time I learn the news, I react the not as a president but as anybody would, as a parent. And that was especially true today. I know there’s not a parent in America who doesn’t feel the same overwhelming grief that I do.
The majority of those who died today were children, beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old. (Pause.) They had their entire lives ahead of them — birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own. (Pause.)
Among the fallen were also teachers, men and women who devoted their lives to helping our children fulfill their dreams.
So our hearts are broken today — for the parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers of these little children, and for the families of the adults who were lost.
Our hearts are broken for the parents of the survivors as well, for, as blessed as they are to have their children home tonight, they know that their children’s innocence has been torn away from them too early, and there are no words that will ease their pain.
As a country, we have been through this too many times, whether it’s an elementary school in Newtown or a shopping mall in Oregon or a temple in Wisconsin or a movie theater in Aurora or a street corner in Chicago. These neighborhoods are our neighborhoods, and these children are our children, and we’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.
This evening, Michelle and I will do what I know every parent in America will do, which is hug our children a little tighter, and we’ll tell them that we love them, and we’ll remind each other how deeply we love one another. But there are families in Connecticut who cannot do that tonight, and they need all of us right now.
In the hard days to come, that community needs us to be at our best as Americans, and I will do everything in my power as president to help, because while nothing can fill the space of a lost child or a loved one, all of us can extend a hand to those in need to remind them that we are there for them, that we are praying for them, that the love they felt for those they lost endures not just in their memories but also in ours.
May God bless the memory of the victims and, in the words of Scripture, heal the broken-hearted and bind up their wounds.
If confirmed, it would be one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history. It comes after a series of shooting rampages in the United States this year that have killed multiple victims.
The principal and school psychologist were among the dead, CNN said.
The shooter, an adult, was dead and two handguns were recovered from the scene, NBC News reported without citing a source.
There were unconfirmed reports of a second shooter after witnesses reported hearing dozens of shots, CBS reported.
Sandy Hook Elementary School teaches children from kindergarten through fourth grade – roughly ages 5 to 10.
“It was horrendous,” said parent Brenda Lebinski, who rushed to the school where her daughter is in the third grade. “Everyone was in hysterics – parents, students. There were kids coming out of the school bloodied. I don’t know if they were shot, but they were bloodied.”
Television images showed police and ambulances at the scene, and parents rushing toward the school. Parents were seen reuniting with their children and taking them home.
“This is going to be bad,” a state official told Reuters, requesting anonymity because the scope of the tragedy remained uncertain.
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