Letter to President Obama

Many thanks to my Aunt for sending this beautiful letter about her brother (my father) to the President. I was very moved when I read it, as I hope he will be.


Dear President Obama:

There is one purpose for writing this letter to you, and that is to encourage you to
STOP SMOKING!!!

On February 26, 1994, my family, the educational community, the pharmaceutical community, the African American community, and the world, lost a wonderful person in the name of Dr. Clayborne Morris Monk. He was a professor of pharmacy at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas and a former professor of pharmacy at the University of Southern California. He was my brother.

Like you, Mr. President, he was a brilliant scholar, respected teacher, and a caring, loving family man. Intellectually, he knew that smoking was very bad for his health. He couldn’t seem to stop, despite this knowledge, and the family’s efforts to encourage him to do so.

Mr. Obama, we in the African American community of these United States of America, have precious few men of your caliber and my brother’s to model after. The statistics show that we are over represented in the prisons, hospitals, homeless population, etc.

Like many African Americans, I am button- popping proud of you and I would like to see you around for many years to come. I expect you to be re-elected in 2012. More importantly, I expect you to live long enough to see your beautiful daughters excel educationally and professionally; and to become fulfilled wives, and nurturing mothers. (if that is their choice)

Mr. President, please do not put yourself in a position to become another male African American statistic. Like my brother Clay, you are too precious to GOD, your family, and your country to succumb to such a bad habit.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.

Sincerely,
HRM