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MAD DADS Point of Light Salute 6/8/90 [OA 5375]
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16
3
4
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Omaha, Nebraska)
For Immediate Release
June 8, 1990
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AT MAD DADS POINT OF LIGHT SALUTE
30th and Spencer Street Lot
North Omaha, Nebraska
2:16 P.M. CDT
THE PRESIDENT: First, thank all of you for that warm
welcome. And thank you, John Foster. And to the Governor of this
state, Governor Orr, and to the Mayor of this great city, P.J.
Morgan, and, course to Eddie Staton, and Robert Tyler, George
Garrison, Lafayette Nelson, and all of you wonderful, inspiring MAD
DADS, MAD MOMS, MAD KIDS, MAD everything. (Applause.) I'm glad to
be here with you today to meet you; and we've just had a wonderful
visit with these men these MAD DADS that I've just clicked off
their names, right next door here, briefing me on how this
organization is coming together, and what it's doing to help the kids
of Omaha -- not just this neighborhood -- but through its example,
the kids of America. All the kids across this country.
And so I will carry back with me to Washington the story
of this extraordinary war for decency waged in a parking lot. And on
this street, and across the streets of this community -- and you are
truly what I call a Point of Light, a beacon for others to turn to in
the grim and lonely darkness of their despair. And we are grateful
to each and every one of you that are involved in this program.
(Applause.)
Reverend Tyler -- your Reverend Tyler put it this way
about drugs and gangs and emptiness used to be, here's what he'd call
it: "a cancer festering in the heart of North Omaha". Well, you've
done some radical surgery, my friends, on that cancer. And you've
ripped it out and you've replaced it with the healing balm of love;
caring about the other guy. (Applause.)
And, of course, I'll take back with me to Washington, in
a few minutes, the lesson of how this revolution began -- how you
transformed tragedy into hope. And I'll tell others of last May,
when Sean Foster -- a college student with no ties to gangs or drugs
-- was beaten viciously by the member of a gang. And of how his
father, John, took one look at his bloodied son and something inside
him exploded.
He took to the streets to find his son's attackers. He
never did. But what he did find serves his community -- and all of
us -- much better.
He found that the streets belonged not to the families,
but to the gangs. Not to hope, but to the drug dealers. Not to a
bright future, but to a brutal cycle of violence and crime. And John
Foster found that voice within him to shout: "This madness must
stop."
So this angry father and his friends formed MAD DADS. In
the last year, along with more than 550 others who have joined them,
they have become the dominant presence on their previously devastated
streets. And they're father figures who take a hard line against the
drugs and the gangs which are the predators; but speak softly, put
their arm around, and hug the kids who are the victims.
Your MAD DADS' logo behind me tells the story. The
MORE
- 2
outstretched, caring hand of the loving father who embraces positive
change. And the fist of determination of the strong father who
resolves to be the force behind that change.
And these good, strong men, who talk with pain in their
hearts about pain on the streets, take action. They paint over gang
graffiti to proclaim that they'e reclaiming the city. Nightly, they
patrol the killing grounds of their streets, going out, as one said,
with nothing but "a radio, a conversation and a prayer." They speak
to schools; they provide protection from gang_threats; they sponsor
events; counsel and I guess most of all, they care. They are fathers
to a neighborhood desperately in need of family. In the shifting
shadows of midnight streetcorners, they reach out to the lost sons of
other men.
But, most importantly, they're there. They are simply
there. And they care, And they are voices crying in the dark --
"see us and fear, see us and believe, see us and hope.
The handful of determined neighbors who formed MAD DADS
were those voices. They shouted out against this meaningless
violence that they saw leading today's young men and women into
self-destruction. And one by one, others joined them in their cry of
protest. And now their world is filled with a lion's roar --
supremely strong, fiercely proud, challenging and redeeming.
And so we are today witnessing the wonder of a rebirth.
It's more than a rebith of community. It is a rebirth of hope, of
respect for life, and of the future.
And so MAD DADS, for the inspiration and the example you
set, I am proud to have honored you as our nation's 126th Daily Point
of Light.
If every community could band together as you have, we
could see the MAD DADS' spirit of caring spread -- street by street,
neighborhood by neighborhood, city by city. Crime, drugs, and
hopelessness can be -- and will be -- banished from the shadows of
our great land when each individual cares enough to add his or her
voice to the growing chorus of outrage.
The government wants to help. The federal government.
The state government. The city government. But far more important
--- and we will, we will do our level best -- but far more important
is that spirit exemplified by the men that we honor here today.
Thank you for all that you do in the name of love. God
bless you and God bless these wonderful children. Thanks for giving
them a chance, and God bless the future of the United States of
America. Thank you all very, very much. Thank you. Good luck to
you, kids. Thank you all. (Applause.)
END
2:24 P.M. CDT
MAD DADS POINT OF LIGHT SALUTE / OMAHA, NEBRASKA
FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 1990 / 1:55 P.M.
THANK YOU JOHN FOSTER, GOVERNOR ORR, MAYOR MORGAN,
EDDIE STATON (STATE-UN), ROBERT TYLER, GEORGE GARRISON,
LAFAYETTE "CAP" NELSON, AND ALL OF YOU WONDERFUL,
INSPIRING MAD DADS, MAD MOMS, AND MAD KIDS. I'M GLAD
I'M HERE TODAY TO MEET YOU AND To VISIT YOUR NEW
HEADQUARTERS.
e
- 2 -
I'LL CARRY WITH ME BACK TO WASHINGTON THE STORY OF
THIS EXTRAORDINARY WAR FOR DECENCY WAGED IN THIS
PARKING LOT, //ON THIS STREET, // AND ACROSS THE
STREETS OF YOUR COMMUNITY. You TRULY ARE A POINT OF
LIGHT -- A BEACON FOR OTHERS TO TURN TO IN THE GRIM,
LONELY DARKNESS OF THEIR DESPAIR.
YOUR REV. TYLER SAID THAT DRUGS AND GANGS AND
EMPTINESS USED TO BE A "CANCER FESTERING IN THE HEART
OF NORTH OMAHA".
- 3 -
WELL, YOU HAVE DONE RADICAL SURGERY ON THAT CANCER.
YOU'VE RIPPED IT OUT AND REPLACED IT WITH THE HEALING
BALM OF LOVE. //
AND I WILL ALSO TAKE BACK TO WASHINGTON WITH ME THE
LESSON OF HOW YOUR REVOLUTION BEGAN -- HOW YOU
TRANSFORMED TRAGEDY INTO HOPE. I WILL TELL OTHERS OF
LAST MAY, WHEN YOUR OWN SEAN FOSTER -- A COLLEGE
STUDENT WITH NO TIES TO GANGS OR DRUGS -- WAS BEATEN
VICIOUSLY BY MEMBERS OF A GANG.
/
- 4 -
OF HOW HIS FATHER JOHN TOOK ONE LOOK AT HIS BLOODIED
SON AND SOMETHING INSIDE HIM EXPLODED.
HE TOOK TO THE STREETS TO TRY TO FIND HIS SON'S
ATTACKERS. HE NEVER DID. BUT WHAT HE DID FIND SERVES.
HIS COMMUNITY -- AND ALL OF US -- MUCH BETTER.
HE FOUND THAT THE STREETS BELONGED NOT TO FAMILIES,
BUT TO THE GANGS. NOT TO HOPE, BUT TO DRUG DEALERS.
- 5 -
NOT TO A BRIGHT FUTURE, BUT TO A BRUTAL CYCLE OF
VIOLENCE AND CRIME. AND JOHN FOSTER FOUND THE VOICE
WITHIN HIM TO SHOUT: "THIS MADNESS MUST STOP. "//
So THIS ANGRY FATHER AND HIS FRIENDS FORMED MAD
DADS. IN THE LAST YEAR, ALONG WITH MORE THAN 550
OTHERS WHO HAVE JOINED THEM, THEY HAVE BECOME THE
DOMINANT PRESENCE ON THEIR PREVIOUSLY DEVASTATED
STREETS.
- 6 -
THEY ARE FATHER FIGURES WHO TAKE A HARD LINE AGAINST
THE DRUGS AND GANGS WHICH ARE THE PREDATORS; BUT SPEAK
SOFTLY TO THE KIDS WHO ARE THE VICTIMS.
YOUR MAD DADS' LOGO BEHIND ME TELLS YOUR STORY.
THE OUTSTRETCHED, CARING HAND OF THE LOVING FATHER WHO
EMBRACES POSITIVE CHANGE. AND THE FIST OF
DETERMINATION OF THE STRONG FATHER WHO RESOLVES TO BE
THE FORCE BEHIND THAT CHANGE.
- 7 -
AND THESE GOOD, STRONG MEN, WHO TALK WITH PAIN IN
THEIR HEARTS ABOUT PAIN ON THE STREETS, TAKE ACTION.
THEY PAINT OVER GANG GRAFFITI TO PROCLAIM THAT THEY'RE
RECLAIMING THE CITY. NIGHTLY, THEY PATROL THE KILLING
GROUNDS OF THEIR STREETS: GOING OUT, AS ONE SAID, WITH
NOTHING BUT "A RADIO, A CONVERSATION AND A PRAYER."
THEY SPEAK TO SCHOOLS; PROVIDE PROTECTION FROM GANG
THREATS; SPONSOR EVENTS; COUNSEL AND CARE. THEY ARE
FATHERS TO A NEIGHBORHOOD IN DESPERATE NEED OF FAMILY.
- 8 -
IN THE SHIFTING SHADOWS OF MIDNIGHT STREET CORNERS,
THEY REACH OUT TO THE LOST SONS OF OTHER MEN.
BUT, MOST IMPORTANTLY, THEY'RE SIMPLY THERE. AND
THEY CARE. THEY ARE VOICES CRYING INTO THE DARK --
"SEE US AND FEAR, SEE US AND BELIEVE, SEE US AND
HOPE." //
THE HANDFUL OF DETERMINED NEIGHBORS WHO FORMED MAD
DADS WERE THOSE VOICES. THEY SHOUTED OUT AGAINST THE
MEANINGLESS VIOLENCE THEY SAW LEADING TODAY'S YOUNG MEN
AND WOMEN INTO SELF-DESTRUCTION.
- 9 -
ONE BY ONE, OTHERS JOINED THEM IN THEIR CRY OF PROTEST.
Now THEIR WORLD IS FILLED WITH A LION'S ROAR --
SUPREMELY STRONG, FIERCELY PROUD, CHALLENGING AND
REDEEMING.
WE ARE TODAY WITNESSING THE WONDER OF A REBIRTH.
IT IS MORE THAN A REBIRTH OF COMMUNITY. IT IS A
REBIRTH OF HOPE, OF RESPECT FOR LIFE, AND OF THE
FUTURE.
- 10 -
AND so MAD DADS, FOR THE INSPIRATION AND THE
EXAMPLE YOU SET, I AM PROUD TO HAVE HONORED YOU AS OUR
NATION'S 126TH DAILY POINT OF LIGHT. //
IF EVERY COMMUNITY COULD BAND TOGETHER AS YOU HAVE,
WE COULD SEE THE MAD DADS' SPIRIT OF CARING SPREAD --
STREET BY STREET, NEIGHBORHOOD BY NEIGHBORHOOD, CITY BY
CITY.
- 11 -
CRIME, DRUGS, AND HOPELESSNESS CAN BE -- AND WILL BE --
BANISHED FROM THE SHADOWS OF OUR GREAT LAND WHEN EACH
INDIVIDUAL CARES ENOUGH TO ADD HIS VOICE TO THE GROWING
CHORUS OF OUTRAGE. //
THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO IN THE NAME OF LOVE. GOD
BLESS YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN, AND GOD BLESS THE FUTURE
OF OUR GREAT NATION.
###
/
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
June 5, 1990
INFORMATION
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
THROUGH:
CHRISS WINSTON cw
FROM:
BETH HINCHLIFFE BH
SUBJECT:
REMARKS TO THE MAD DADS
I. SUMMARY
On Friday, June 8, at 1:55 p.m., you will address about
2,500 people in a parking lot in North Omaha, Nebraska.
Accompanying you on the dais will be Governor Kay Orr and Mayor
P.J. Morgan and the leadership and founders of the Mad Dads,
including John Foster, Eddie Staton, Robert Tyler, George
Garrison, and Lafayette Nelson.
II. DISCUSSION
The attached remarks (6 minutes, speechcards) applaud the
Mad Dads for their courage and dedication in trying to take back
their streets from the gangs. From counseling children to
painting over graffiti and patrolling the neighborhood at night,
the Mad Dads act as surrogate fathers for the children in North
Omaha.
(Hinchliffe/Blessey)
MADDAD
May 30, 1990
Draft two
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: MAD DADS POINT OF LIGHT SALUTE
FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 1990
Thank you John Foster, Governor Orr, Mayor Morgan, Eddie
Staton (STATE-un), Robert Tyler, George Garrison, Lafayette "Cap"
Nelson, and all of you wonderful, inspiring MAD DADS, MAD MOMS,
and MAD KIDS. I'm glad I'm here today to meet you and to visit
your new headquarters.
I'll carry with me back to Washington the story of this
extraordinary war for decency waged in this parking lot, // in
your headquarters on this street, // and across the streets of
your community. You truly are a Point of Light --- a beacon for
others to turn to in the grim, lonely darkness of their despair.
Your Rev. Tyler said that drugs and gangs and emptiness used
to be a "cancer festering in the heart of North Omaha". Well,
you have done radical surgery on that cancer. You've ripped it
out and replaced it with the healing balm of love. //
And I will also take back to Washington with me the lesson
of how your revolution began -- how you transformed tragedy into
hope. I will tell others of last May, when your own Sean Foster
-- a college student with no ties to gangs or drugs -- was beaten
viciously by members of a gang. Of how his father John took one
look at his bloodied son and something inside him exploded.
2
He took to the streets to try to find his son's attackers.
He never did. But what he did find serves his community -- and
all of us -- much better.
He found that the streets belonged not to families, but to
the gangs. Not to hope, but to drug dealers. Not to a bright
future, but to a brutal cycle of violence and crime. And John
Foster found the voice within him to shout: "This madness must
stop. "//
So this angry father and his friends formed MAD DADS. In
the last year, along with more than 550 others who have joined
them, they have become the dominant presence on their previously
devastated streets. They are father figures who take a hard line
against the drugs and gangs which are the predators; but speak
softly to the kids who are the victims.
Your MAD DADS' logo behind me tells your story. The
outstretched, caring hand of the loving father who embraces
positive change. And the fist of determination of the strong
father who resolves to be the force behind that change.
And these good, strong men, who talk with pain in their
hearts about pain on the streets, take action. They paint over
gang graffiti to proclaim that they're reclaiming the city.
Nightly, they patrol the killing grounds of their streets: going
out, as one said, with nothing but "a radio, a conversation and a
prayer." They speak to schools; provide protection from gang
threats; sponsor events; counsel and care. They are fathers to a
neighborhood in desperate need of family. In the shifting
3
shadows of midnight street corners, they reach out to the lost
sons of other men.
But, most importantly, they're simply there. And they care.
They are voices crying into the dark -- "see us and fear, see us
and believe, see us and hope." //
The handful of determined neighbors who formed MAD DADS were
those voices. They shouted out against the meaningless violence
they saw leading today's young men and women into self-
destruction. One by one, others joined them in their cry of
protest. Now their world is filled with a lion's roar --
supremely strong, fiercely proud, challenging and redeeming.
We are today witnessing the wonder of a rebirth. It is more
than a rebirth of community. It is a rebirth of hope, of respect
for life, and of the future.
And so MAD DADS, for the inspiration and the example you
set, I am proud to have honored you as our nation's 126th Daily
Point of Light. //
If every community could band together as you have, we could
see the MAD DADS' spirit of caring spread -- street by street,
neighborhood by neighborhood, city by city. Crime, drugs, and
hopelessness can be -- and will be -- banished from the shadows
of our great land when each individual cares enough to add his
voice to the growing chorus of outrage. //
Thank you for all you do in the name of love. God bless you
and your children, and God bless the future of our great nation.
# # #
Document No.
146185
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
90 MAY 6 A8: 17
06/06/90
----
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
SUBJECT: PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: MAD DADS POINT OF LIGHT SALUTE
(05/30 draft two)
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
PINKERTON
1
DEMAREST
WINSTON
FITZWATER
PETERSMEYER
GRAY
BENNETT
HAGIN
REMARKS:
The attached has been forwarded to the President.
RESPONSE:
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
THE WHITE HOUSE
SQUIN5
June 5, 1990
P6:
INFORMATION
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
THROUGH:
CHRISS WINSTON cw
FROM:
BETH HINCHLIFFE
BH
SUBJECT:
REMARKS TO THE MAD DADS
I.
SUMMARY
On Friday, June 8, at 1:55 p.m., you will address about
2,500 people in a parking lot in North Omaha, Nebraska.
Accompanying you on the dais will be Governor Kay Orr and Mayor
P.J. Morgan and the leadership and founders of the Mad Dads,
including John Foster, Eddie Staton, Robert Tyler, George
Garrison, and Lafayette Nelson.
II. DISCUSSION
The attached remarks (6 minutes, speechcards) applaud the
Mad Dads for their courage and dedication in trying to take back
their streets from the gangs. From counseling children to
painting over graffiti and patrolling the neighborhood at night,
the Mad Dads act as surrogate fathers for the children in North
Omaha.
(Hinchliffe/Blessey)
MADDAD
May 30, 1990
Draft two
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS:
MAD DADS POINT OF LIGHT SALUTE
FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 1990
Thank you John Foster, Governor Orr, Mayor Morgan, Eddie
Staton (STATE-un), Robert Tyler, George Garrison, Lafayette "Cap"
Nelson, and all of you wonderful, inspiring MAD DADS, MAD MOMS,
and MAD KIDS. I'm glad I'm here today to meet you and to visit
your new headquarters.
I'll carry with me back to Washington the story of this
extraordinary war for decency waged in this parking lot, // in
your headquarters on this street, // and across the streets of
your community. You truly are a Point of Light -- a beacon for
others to turn to in the grim, lonely darkness of their despair.
Your Rev. Tyler said that drugs and gangs and emptiness used
to be a "cancer festering in the heart of North Omaha". Well,
you have done radical surgery on that cancer. You've ripped it
out and replaced it with the healing balm of love. //
And I will also take back to Washington with me the lesson
of how your revolution began -- how you transformed tragedy into
hope. I will tell others of last May, when your own Sean Foster
-- a college student with no ties to gangs or drugs -- was beaten
viciously by members of a gang. of how his father John took one
look at his bloodied son and something inside him exploded.
2
He took to the streets to try to find his son's attackers.
He never did. But what he did find serves his community -- and
all of us -- much better.
He found that the streets belonged not to families, but to
the gangs. Not to hope, but to drug dealers. Not to a bright
future, but to a brutal cycle of violence and crime. And John
Foster found the voice within him to shout: "This madness must
stop. "//
So this angry father and his friends formed MAD DADS. In
the last year, along with more than 550 others who have joined
them, they have become the dominant presence on their previously
devastated streets. They are father figures who take a hard line
against the drugs and gangs which are the predators; but speak
softly to the kids who are the victims.
Your MAD DADS' logo behind me tells your story. The
outstretched, caring hand of the loving father who embraces
positive change. And the fist of determination of the strong
father who resolves to be the force behind that change.
And these good, strong men, who talk with pain in their
hearts about pain on the streets, take action. They paint over
gang graffiti to proclaim that they're reclaiming the city.
Nightly, they patrol the killing grounds of their streets: going
out, as one said, with nothing but "a radio, a conversation and a
prayer." They speak to schools; provide protection from gang
threats; sponsor events; counsel and care. They are fathers to a
neighborhood in desperate need of family. In the shifting
3
shadows of midnight street corners, they reach out to the lost
sons of other men.
But, most importantly, they're simply there. And they care.
They are voices crying into the dark -- "see us and fear, see us
and believe, see us and hope.' 11
The handful of determined neighbors who formed MAD DADS were
those voices. They shouted out against the meaningless violence
they saw leading today's young men and women into self-
destruction. One by one, others joined them in their cry of
protest. Now their world is filled with a lion's roar --
supremely strong, fiercely proud, challenging and redeeming.
We are today witnessing the wonder of a rebirth. It is more
than a rebirth of community. It is a rebirth of hope, of respect
for life, and of the future.
And so MAD DADS, for the inspiration and the example you
set, I am proud to have honored you as our nation's 126th Daily
Point of Light. //
If every community could band together as you have, we could
see the MAD DADS' spirit of caring spread -- street by street,
neighborhood by neighborhood, city by city. Crime, drugs, and
hopelessness can be -- and will be -- banished from the shadows
of our great land when each individual cares enough to add his
voice to the growing chorus of outrage. //
Thank you for all you do in the name of love. God bless you
and your children, and God bless the future of our great nation.
# # #
Storted w/ 18 men in basument of church
time 1:80p.m
Muntion mothers. Theyre been backbone
how mony ! 3,000
(Hinchliffe/Blessey)
MADDAD
adv 402 J97-5189
May 30, 1990
4:15 p.m.
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS:
MAD DADS POINT OF LIGHT SALUTE
FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 1990
Estate
ton]
George Gorrison
Robert Tyber Nelson
Thank you John Foster, Eddie Staton, and all of you wonderful,
15/-
3500
inspiring MAD DADS, MAD MOMS, and MAD KIDS. I'm glad you invited me
here
here to meet you today -- and to visit your new headquarters.
I'll carry with me back to Washington the story of the
John
extraordinary war for decency which you are waging in this parking
Foster
lot, // on this street, // and across the streets of your
visit
Sex,
community. You truly are a Point of Light -- a beacon for others to
turn to in the grim, lonely darkness of their despair.
Ishatorduc
Your Rev. Tyler said that drugs and gangs and emptiness used to
be a "cancer festering in the heart of North Omaha". Well, you have
not
doné radical surgery on that cancer. You've ripped it out and
replaced it with the healing balm of love. //
improvement
Mac
And I will also take back to Washington with me the lesson of
how your revolution began -- how you transformed tragedy into hope.
Sohntroler
I will tell others of last Mby June, when your own Sean Foster -- a
college student with no ties to gangs or drugs -- was beaten
viciously by members of a gang. of how his father John took one
look at his bloodied son and something inside him exploded.
He took to the streets to try to find his son's attackers. He
never did. But what he did find serves his community -- and all of
us -- much better.
He found that the streets belonged not to families, but to the
gangs. Not to hope, but to drug dealers. Not to the future, but to
a brutal cycle of violence and crime. And John Foster found the
voice within him to shout: "This madness must stop. "//
2
JohnFaster
So this angry father and his friends formed MAD DADS. In the
Articles
last year, along with more than 550 others who have joined them,
they have become the dominant presence on their previously
devastated streets. They are father figures who talk tough against
the drugs and gangs which are the predators; but soft to the kids
who are the victims.
Your MAD DADS' logo tells your story. The outstretched, caring
hand of the loving father who embraces positive change. And the
fist of determination of the strong father who resolves to be the
force behind that change.
And these good, strong men, who talk with pain in their hearts
about pain on the streets, taken action. They paint over gang
graffiti to proclaim that they're reclaiming the city. Nightly,
they patrol the killing grounds of their streets: going out, as one
said, with nothing but "a radio, a conversation and a prayer. " They
speak to schools; provide protection from gang threats; sponsor
events; counsel and care. They are fathers to a neighborhood in
desperate need of family. In the shifting shadows of midnight
street corners, they talk to lost sons of other men.
But, most importantly, they're simply there. And they care.
They are voices crying into the bleakness -- "see us and
fear,
see
us and believe, see us and hope. "//
John Foster's voice was one of those voices. He shouted out
against the meaningless violence he saw leading today's young men
and women into self-destruction. One by one, others joined him in
his cry of protest. Now their world is filled with a lion's roar -
- supremely strong, fiercely proud, challenging and redeeming.
3
We are today witnessing the wonder of a rebirth. It is more
than a rebirth of community. It is a rebirth of hope, of respect
for life, and of the future.
incy Toybe
And so MAD have DADS, for the inspiration and the example you set, I
x6266
am proud to honor you as our nation's 126th Daily Point of Light. 71
If every community could band together as you have, we could
see the MAD DADS' spirit of caring spread -- street by street,
neighborhood by neighborhood, city by city. Crime, drugs, and
hopelessness can be -- and will be -- banished from the shadows of
our great land when each individual cares enough to add his voice
to the growing chorus of outrage. //
Thank you for all you do in the name of love. God bless you and
your children, and God bless the future of our great nation.
*
*
*
*
Document No. 146185
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
6/1/90
90 MAY 4 A7: 55
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 10:00 AM, TUES., JUNE 5
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: MAD DADS POINT OF LIGHT SALUTE
FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 1990
SUBJECT:
(5/30 - 4:15 pm draft)
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
R
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER n/c
DARMAN
ROGICH n/c
R
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
PINKERTON N/C
DEMAREST
WINSTON
FITZWATER
PETERSMEYER
GRAY
BENNETT
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please provide comments/edits on the attached directly to
Chriss Winston, Rm. 122, x2930 by 10:00 AM, TUESDAY, JUNE 5,
with a copy to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
(Hinchliffe/Blessey)
MADDAD
May 30, 1990
4:15 p.m.
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS:
MAD DADS POINT OF LIGHT SALUTE
FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 1990
P8:10
Thank you John Foster, Eddie Staton, and all of you wonderful,
inspiring MAD DADS, MAD MOMS, and MAD KIDS. I'm glad you invited me
tocome by
here to meet you today and to visit your new headquarters.
I'll carry with me back to Washington the story of the
extraordinary war for decency which you are waging ed in this parking
lot, // on this street, // and across the streets of your
community. You truly are a Point of Light -- a beacon for others to
turn to in the grim, lonely darkness of their despair.
Your Rev. Tyler said that drugs and gangs and emptiness used to
be a "cancer festering in the heart of North Omaha". Well, you have
done radical surgery on that cancer. You've ripped it out and
replaced it with the healing balm of love. //
And I will also take back to Washington with me the lesson of
how your revolution began -- how you transformed tragedy into hope.
I will tell others of last June, when your own Sean Foster -- a
college student with no ties to gangs or drugs -- was beaten
viciously by members of a gang. Of how his father John took one
look at his bloodied son and something inside him exploded.
He took to the streets to try to find his son's attackers. He
never did. But what he did find serves his community -- and all of
us -- much better.
He found that the streets belonged not to families, but to the
a
bright
gangs. Not to hope, but to drug dealers. Not to the future, but to
a brutal cycle of violence and crime. And John Foster found the
voice within him to shout: "This madness must stop. "//
2
So this angry father and his friends formed MAD DADS. In the
last year, along with more than 550 others who have joined them,
they have become the dominant presence on their previously
take a hard line
devastated streets. They are father figures who talk tough against
the drugs and gangs which are the predators; but soft, to the kids
speak ly
who are the victims.
Your MAD DADS' logo tells your story. The outstretched, caring
hand of the loving father who embraces positive change. And the
fist of determination of the strong father who resolves to be the
force behind that change.
And these good, strong men, who talk with pain in their hearts
about pain on the streets, taken action. They paint over gang
graffiti to proclaim that they're reclaiming the city. Nightly,
they patrol the killing grounds of their streets: going out, as one
said, with nothing but "a radio, a conversation and a prayer.' They
speak to schools; provide protection from gang threats; sponsor
events; counsel and care. They are fathers to a neighborhood in
desperate need of family. In the shifting shadows of midnight
reach out the
street corners, they talk to lost sons of other men.
But, most importantly, they're simply there. And they care.
dark
They are voices crying into the bleakness -- "see us and fear, see
us and believe, see us and hope. "//
John Foster's voice was one of those voices. He shouted out
against the meaningless violence he saw leading today's young men
and women into self-destruction. One by one, others joined him in
his cry of protest. Now their world is filled with a lion's roar -
- supremely strong, fiercely proud, challenging and redeeming.
3
We are today witnessing the wonder of a rebirth. It is more
than a rebirth of community. It is a rebirth of hope, of respect
for life, and of the future.
And so MAD DADS, for the inspiration and the example you set, I
am proud to honor you as our nation's 126th Daily Point of Light. //
If every community could band together as you have, we could
see the MAD DADS' spirit of caring spread -- street by street,
neighborhood by neighborhood, city by city. Crime, drugs, and
hopelessness can be -- and will be -- banished from the shadows of
our great land when each individual cares enough to add his voice
to the growing chorus of outrage. //
Thank you for all you do in the name of love. God bless you and
your children, and God bless the future of our great nation.
*
*
*
*
(Hinchliffe/Blessey) MADDAD
May 30, 1990
4:15 p.m.
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: 90
MAD DADS POINT OF LIGHT SALUTE
MAY
P
FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 1990
Thank you John Foster, Eddie Staton, and all of you wonderful,
inspiring MAD DADS, MAD MOMS, and MAD KIDS. I'm glad you invited me
here to meet you today -- and to visit your new headquarters.
I'll carry with me back to Washington the story of the
extraordinary war for decency which you are waging in this parking
lot, // on this street, // and across the streets of your
community. You truly are a Point of Light -- a beacon for others to
turn to in the grim, lonely darkness of their despair.
Your Rev. Tyler said that drugs and gangs and emptiness used to
be a "cancer festering in the heart of North Omaha". Well, you have
done radical surgery on that cancer. You've ripped it out and
replaced it with the healing balm of love. //
And I will also take back to Washington with me the lesson of
how your revolution began -- how you transformed tragedy into hope.
I will tell others of last June, when your own Sean Foster -- a
college student with no ties to gangs or drugs -- was beaten
viciously by members of a gang. Of how his father John took one
look at his bloodied son and something inside him exploded.
He took to the streets to try to find his son's attackers. He
never did. But what he did find serves his community -- and all of
us -- much better.
He found that the streets belonged not to families, but to the
gangs. Not to hope, but to drug dealers. Not to the future, but to
a brutal cycle of violence and crime. And John Foster found the
voice within him to shout: "This madness must stop. "//
2
So this angry father and his friends formed MAD DADS. In the
last year, along with more than 550 others who have joined them,
they have become the dominant presence on their previously
devastated streets. They are father figures who talk tough against
the drugs and gangs which are the predators; but soft to the kids
who are the victims.
Your MAD DADS' logo tells your story. The outstretched, caring
hand of the loving father who embraces positive change. And the
fist of determination of the strong father who resolves to be the
force behind that change.
And these good, strong men, who talk with pain in their hearts
about pain on the streets, taken action. They paint over gang
graffiti to proclaim that they're reclaiming the city. Nightly,
they patrol the killing grounds of their streets: going out, as one
said, with nothing but "a radio, a conversation and a prayer. " They
speak to schools; provide protection from gang threats; sponsor
events; counsel and care. They are fathers to a neighborhood in
desperate need of family. In the shifting shadows of midnight
street corners, they talk to lost sons of other men.
But, most importantly, they're simply there. And they care.
They are voices crying into the bleakness -- "see us and fear, see
us and believe, see us and hope. "//
John Foster's voice was one of those voices. He shouted out
against the meaningless violence he saw leading today's young men
and women into self-destruction. One by one, others joined him in
his cry of protest. Now their world is filled with a lion's roar -
- supremely strong, fiercely proud, challenging and redeeming.
3
We are today witnessing the wonder of a rebirth. It is more
than a rebirth of community. It is a rebirth of hope, of respect
for life, and of the future.
And so MAD DADS, for the inspiration and the example you set, I
am proud to honor you as our nation's 126th Daily Point of Light. //
If every community could band together as you have, we could
see the MAD DADS' spirit of caring spread -- street by street,
neighborhood by neighborhood, city by city. Crime, drugs, and
hopelessness can be -- and will be -- banished from the shadows of
our great land when each individual cares enough to add his voice
to the growing chorus of outrage. //
Thank you for all you do in the name of love. God bless you and
your children, and God bless the future of our great nation.
*
*
*
*
Document No. 146185
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
6/1/90
90 MAY 5 A10:21
V
DATE:
10:00
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
AM,
TUES.,
JUNE
5
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: MAD DADS POINT OF LIGHT SALUTE
FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 1990
SUBJECT:
(5/30 - 4:15 pm draft)
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
R
MCCLURE
1
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
R
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
PINKERTON
DEMAREST
WINSTON
FITZWATER
PETERSMEYER
GRAY
BENNETT
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please provide comments/edits on the attached directly to
Chriss Winston, Rm. 122, x2930 by 10:00 AM, TUESDAY, JUNE 5,
with a copy to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
(Hinchliffe/Blessey) MADDAD
May 30, 1990
4:15 p.m.
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS:
MAD DADS POINT OF LIGHT SALUTE
FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 1990
Thank you John Foster, Eddie Staton, and all of you wonderful,
inspiring MAD DADS, MAD MOMS, and MAD KIDS. I'm glad you invited me
here to meet you today -- and to visit your new headquarters.
I'll carry with me back to Washington the story of the
extraordinary war for decency which you are waging in this parking
lot, // on this street, // and across the streets of your
community. You truly are a Point of Light -- a beacon for others to
turn to in the grim, lonely darkness of their despair.
Your Rev. Tyler said that drugs and gangs and emptiness used to
be a "cancer festering in the heart of North Omaha". Well, you have
done radical surgery on that cancer. You've ripped it out and
replaced it with the healing balm of love. //
And I will also take back to Washington with me the lesson of
how your revolution began -- how you transformed tragedy into hope.
I will tell others of last June, when your own Sean Foster -- a
college student with no ties to gangs or drugs -- was beaten
viciously by members of a gang. of how his father John took one
look at his bloodied son and something inside him exploded.
He took to the streets to try to find his son's attackers. He
never did. But what he did find serves his community and all of
us -- much better.
a
bright
He found that the streets belonged not to families, but to the
gangs. Not to hope, but to drug dealers. Not to the future, but to
a brutal cycle of violence and crime. And John Foster found the
voice within him to shout: "This madness must stop. "//
2
So this angry father and his friends formed MAD DADS. In the
last year, along with more than 550 others who have joined them,
they have become the dominant presence on their previously
devastated streets. They are father figures who talk tough against
the drugs and gangs which are the predators; but soft to the kids
who are the victims.
Your MAD DADS' logo tells your story. The outstretched, caring
hand of the loving father who embraces positive change. And the
fist of determination of the strong father who resolves to be the
force behind that change.
And these good, strong men, who talk with pain in their hearts
about pain on the streets, taken action. They paint over gang
graffiti to proclaim that they're reclaiming the city. Nightly,
they patrol the killing grounds of their streets: going out, as one
said, with nothing but "a radio, a conversation and a prayer.' They
speak to schools; provide protection from gang threats; sponsor
events; counsel and care. They are fathers to a neighborhood in
desperate need of family. In the shifting shadows of midnight
street corners, they talk to lost the sons of other men. darkness
But, most importantly, they're simply there. And they care.
They are voices crying into the bleakness -- "see us and fear, see
us and believe, see us and hope."//
John Foster's voice was one of those voices. He shouted out
against the meaningless violence he saw leading today's young men
and women into self-destruction. One by one, others joined him in
his cry of protest. Now their world is filled with a lion's roar -
- supremely strong, fiercely proud, challenging and redeeming.
rich out
3
We are today witnessing the wonder of a rebirth. It is more
than a rebirth of community. It is a rebirth of hope, of respect
for life, and of the future.
And so MAD DADS, for the inspiration and the example you set, I
am proud to honor you as our nation's 126th Daily Point of Light. //
If every community could band together as you have, we could
see the MAD DADS' spirit of caring spread -- street by street,
neighborhood by neighborhood, city by city. Crime, drugs, and
hopelessness can be -- and will be -- banished from the shadows of
our great land when each individual cares enough to add his voice
to the growing chorus of outrage. 11
Thank you for all you do in the name of love. God bless you and
your children, and God bless the future of our great nation.
*
*
*
*
Document No. 146185
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
V
6/1/90
90 MAY 5 A9: 59
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 10:00 AM, TUES., JUNE 5
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: MAD DADS POINT OF LIGHT SALUTE
FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 1990
SUBJECT:
(5/30 - 4:15 pm draft)
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
R
MCCLURE
\
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
R
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
PINKERTON
DEMAREST
WINSTON
FITZWATER
PETERSMEYER
GRAY
BENNETT
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please provide comments/ edits on the attached directly to
Chriss Winston, Rm. 122, x2930 by 10:00 AM, TUESDAY, JUNE 5,
with a copy to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
OK
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
(Hinchliffe/Blessey)
MADDAD
May 30, 1990
4:15 p.m.
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS:
MAD DADS POINT OF LIGHT SALUTE
FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 1990
P8:16
Thank you John Foster, Eddie Staton, and all of you wonderful,
inspiring MAD DADS, MAD MOMS, and MAD KIDS. I'm glad you invited me
here to meet you today -- and to visit your new headquarters.
I'll carry with me back to Washington the story of the
extraordinary war for decency which you are waging in this parking
lot, // on this street, // and across the streets of your
community. You truly are a Point of Light -- a beacon for others to
turn to in the grim, lonely darkness of their despair.
Your Rev. Tyler said that drugs and gangs and emptiness used to
be a "cancer festering in the heart of North Omaha". Well, you have
done radical surgery on that cancer. You've ripped it out and
replaced it with the healing balm of love. //
And I will also take back to Washington with me the lesson of
how your revolution began -- how you transformed tragedy into hope.
I will tell others of last June, when your own Sean Foster -- a
college student with no ties to gangs or drugs -- was beaten
viciously by members of a gang. of how his father John took one
look at his bloodied son and something inside him exploded.
He took to the streets to try to find his son's attackers. He
never did. But what he did find serves his community -- and all of
us -- much better.
He found that the streets belonged not to families, but to the
gangs. Not to hope, but to drug dealers. Not to the future, but to
a brutal cycle of violence and crime. And John Foster found the
voice within him to shout: "This madness must stop. "//
2
So this angry father and his friends formed MAD DADS. In the
last year, along with more than 550 others who have joined them,
they have become the dominant presence on their previously
devastated streets. They are father figures who talk tough against
the drugs and gangs which are the predators; but soft to the kids
who are the victims.
Your MAD DADS' logo tells your story. The outstretched, caring
hand of the loving father who embraces positive change. And the
fist of determination of the strong father who resolves to be the
force behind that change.
And these good, strong men, who talk with pain in their hearts
about pain on the streets, taken action. They paint over gang
graffiti to proclaim that they're reclaiming the city. Nightly,
they patrol the killing grounds of their streets: going out, as one
said, with nothing but "a radio, a conversation and a prayer." They
speak to schools; provide protection from gang threats; sponsor
events; counsel and care. They are fathers to a neighborhood in
desperate need of family. In the shifting shadows of midnight
street corners, they talk to lost sons of other men.
But, most importantly, they're simply there. And they care.
They are voices crying into the bleakness -- "see us and fear, see
us and believe, see us and hope."//
John Foster's voice was one of those voices. He shouted out
against the meaningless violence he saw leading today's young men
and women into self-destruction. One by one, others joined him in
his cry of protest. Now their world is filled with a lion's roar -
- supremely strong, fiercely proud, challenging and redeeming.
3
We are today witnessing the wonder of a rebirth. It is more
than a rebirth of community. It is a rebirth of hope, of respect
for life, and of the future.
And so MAD DADS, for the inspiration and the example you set, I
am proud to honor you as our nation's 126th Daily Point of Light. //
If every community could band together as you have, we could
see the MAD DADS' spirit of caring spread -- street by street,
neighborhood by neighborhood, city by city. Crime, drugs, and
hopelessness can be -- and will be -- banished from the shadows of
our great land when each individual cares enough to add his voice
to the growing chorus of outrage. //
Thank you for all you do in the name of love. God bless you and
your children, and God bless the future of our great nation.
*
*
*
Document No. 146185
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
6/1/90
90 MAY 5 A9: 36
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 10:00 AM, TUES., JUNE 5
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: MAD DADS POINT OF LIGHT SALUTE
FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 1990
SUBJECT:
(5/30 - 4:15 pm draft)
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
PINKERTON
DEMAREST
WINSTON
FITZWATER
PETERSMEYER
GRAY
BENNETT
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please provide comments/edits on the attached directly to
Chriss Winston, Rm. 122, x2930 by 10:00 AM, TUESDAY, JUNE 5,
with a copy to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
Onlice- please all markings in P.2- -
per Daniel Casse,
Jean Balestrieri- #2992
02067176
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
(Hinchliffe/Blessey)
MADDAD
May 30, 1990
4:15 p.m.
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS:
MAD DADS POINT OF LIGHT SALUTE
FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 1990
P8:15
Thank you John Foster, Eddie Staton, and all of you wonderful,
inspiring MAD DADS, MAD MOMS, and MAD KIDS. I'm glad you invited me
here to meet you today -- and to visit your new headquarters.
I'll carry with me back to Washington the story of the
extraordinary war for decency which you are waging in this parking
lot, // on this street, // and across the streets of your
community. You truly are a Point of Light -- a beacon for others to
turn to in the grim, lonely darkness of their despair.
Your Rev. Tyler said that drugs and gangs and emptiness used to
be a "cancer festering in the heart of North Omaha". Well, you have
done radical surgery on that cancer. You've ripped it out and
replaced it with the healing balm of love. //
And I will also take back to Washington with me the lesson of
how your revolution began -- how you transformed tragedy into hope.
I will tell others of last June, when your own Sean Foster -- a
college student with no ties to gangs or drugs -- was beaten
viciously by members of a gang. of how his father John took one
look at his bloodied son and something inside him exploded.
He took to the streets to try to find his son's attackers. He
never did. But what he did find serves his community -- and all of
us -- much better.
He found that the streets belonged not to families, but to the
gangs. Not to hope, but to drug dealers. Not to the future, but to
a brutal cycle of violence and crime. And John Foster found the
voice within him to shout: "This madness must stop. "//
2
So this angry father and his friends formed MAD DADS. In the
last year, along with more than 550 others who have joined them,
they have become the dominant presence on their previously
devastated streets. They are father figures who talk tough against
the drugs and gangs which are the predators; but soft to the kids
who are the victims.
Your MAD DADS' logo tells your story. The outstretched, caring
hand of the loving father who embraces positive change. And the
fist of determination of the strong father who resolves to be the
force behind that change.
And these good, strong men, who talk with pain in their hearts
have
about pain on the streets, taken action. They paint over gang
graffiti to proclaim that they're reclaiming the city. Nightly,
they patrol
the killing
grounds
their streets: going out, as one
said, with nothing but "a radio, a conversation and a prayer. " They
speak to schools; provide protection from gang threats; sponsor
events; counsel and care. They are fathers to a neighborhood in
desperate need of family. In the shifting shadows of midnight
street corners, they talk to lost sons of other men.
But, most importantly, they're simply there. And they care.
They are voices crying into the bleakness -- "see us and fear, see
us and believe, see us and hope. "//
John Foster's voice was one of those voices. He shouted out
against the meaningless violence he saw leading today's young men
and women into self-destruction. One by one, others joined him in
his cry of protest. Now their world is filled with a lion's roar -
- supremely strong, fiercely proud, challenging and redeeming.
3
We are today witnessing the wonder of a rebirth. It is more
than a rebirth of community. It is a rebirth of hope, of respect
for life, and of the future.
And so MAD DADS, for the inspiration and the example you set, I
am proud to honor you as our nation's 126th Daily Point of Light. //
If every community could band together as you have, we could
see the MAD DADS' spirit of caring spread -- street by street,
neighborhood by neighborhood, city by city. Crime, drugs, and
hopelessness can be -- and will be -- banished from the shadows of
our great land when each individual cares enough to add his voice
to the growing chorus of outrage. //
Thank you for all you do in the name of love. God bless you and
your children, and God bless the future of our great nation.
*
*
*
*
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
4
90 MAY Date: 6/5/20
TO:
Chriss Winston
FROM:
CLARK Office of KENT National ERVIN Service CICE
Room 100, OEOB
x6266
Action
Your Comment
Let's Talk
FYI
Attached are are comments an the
MAD DADS sped.
Document No. 146185
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
6/1/90
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 10:00 AM, TUES., JUNE 5
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: MAD DADS POINT OF LIGHT SALUTE
FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 1990
SUBJECT:
(5/30 - 4:15 pm draft)
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
\
MCCLURE
R
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
R
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
PINKERTON
DEMAREST
WINSTON
FITZWATER
PETERSMEYER
GRAY
BENNETT
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please provide comments/edits on the attached directly to
Chriss Winston, Rm. 122, x2930 by 10:00 AM, TUESDAY, JUNE 5,
with a copy to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
(Hinchliffe/Blessey)
MADDAD
May 30, 1990
4:15 p.m.
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS:
MAD DADS POINT OF LIGHT SALUTE
FRIDAY, P8:10 JUNE 8, 1990
Thank you John Foster, Eddie Staton, and all of you wonderful,
inspiring MAD DADS, MAD MOMS, and MAD KIDS. I'm glad you invited me
here to meet you today -- and to visit your new headquarters.
I'll carry with me back to Washington the story of the
extraordinary war for decency which you are waging in this parking
lot, // on this street, // and across the streets of your
community. You truly are a Point of Light -- a beacon for others to
turn to in the grim, lonely darkness of their despair.
Your Rev. Tyler said that drugs and gangs and emptiness used to
be a "cancer festering in the heart of North Omaha". Well, you have
done radical surgery on that cancer. You've ripped it out and
replaced it with the healing balm of love. //
And I will also take back to Washington with me the lesson of
how your revolution began -- how you transformed tragedy into hope.
I will tell others of last June, when your own Sean Foster -- a
college student with no ties to gangs or drugs -- was beaten
viciously by members of a gang. of how his father John took one
look at his bloodied son and something inside him exploded.
He took to the streets to try to find his son's attackers. He
never did. But what he did find serves his community -- and all of
us -- much better.
a
bright
He found that the streets belonged not to families, but to the
gangs. Not to hope, but to drug dealers. Not to the future, but to
a brutal cycle of violence and crime. And John Foster found the
voice within him to shout: "This madness must stop. "//
2
So this angry father and his friends formed MAD DADS. In the
last year, along with more than 550 others who have joined them,
they have become the dominant presence on their previously
devastated streets. They are father figures who talk tough against
the drugs and gangs which are the predators; but soft to the kids
who are the victims.
Your MAD DADS' logo tells your story. The outstretched, caring
hand of the loving father who embraces positive change. And the
fist of determination of the strong father who resolves to be the
force behind that change.
have taken)
And these good, strong men, who talk with pain in their hearts
about pain on the streets, taken action. They paint over gang
graffiti to proclaim that they're reclaiming the city. Nightly,
they patrol the killing grounds of their streets: going out, as one
said, with nothing but "a radio, a conversation and a prayer." They
speak to schools; provide protection from gang threats; sponsor
events; counsel and care. They are fathers to a neighborhood in
desperate need of family. In the shifting shadows of midnight
street corners, they talk to lost the sons of other men. darkness
But, most importantly, they're simply there. And they care.
They are voices crying into the bleakness -- "see us and fear, see
us and believe, see us and hope. "//
John Foster's voice was one of those voices. He shouted out
against the meaningless violence he saw leading today's young men
and women into self-destruction. One by one, others joined him in
his cry of protest. Now their world is filled with a lion's roar -
- supremely strong, fiercely proud, challenging and redeeming.
reach out
3
We are today witnessing the wonder of a rebirth. It is more
than a rebirth of community. It is a rebirth of hope, of respect
for life, and of the future.
And so MAD DADS, for the inspiration and the example you set, I
am proud to honor you as our nation's 126th Daily Point of Light. //
If every community could band together as you have, we could
see the MAD DADS' spirit of caring spread -- street by street,
neighborhood by neighborhood, city by city. Crime, drugs, and
hopelessness can be -- and will be -- banished from the shadows of
our great land when each individual cares enough to add his voice
to the growing chorus of outrage. //
Thank you for all you do in the name of love. God bless you and
your children, and God bless the future of our great nation.
*
*
*
*
Document No. 146185
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
6/1/90
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 10:00 AM, TUES., JUNE 5
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: MAD DADS POINT OF LIGHT SALUTE
FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 1990
SUBJECT:
(5/30 - 4:15 pm draft)
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
R
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
R
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
PINKERTON
DEMAREST
WINSTON
FITZWATER
PETERSMEYER
GRAY
BENNETT
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please provide comments/edits on the attached directly to
Chriss Winston, Rm. 122, x2930 by 10:00 AM, TUESDAY, JUNE 5,
with a copy to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
minor
comments
XX
90 MAY 4 A9 : 58
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
(Hinchliffe/Blessey)
MADDAD
May 30, 1990
4:15 p.m.
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS:
MAD DADS POINT OF LIGHT SALUTE
FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 1990
P8:10
Thank you John Foster, Eddie Staton, and all of you wonderful,
inspiring MAD DADS, MAD MOMS, and MAD KIDS. I'm glad you invited me
TO come by
here to meet you today and to visit your new headquarters.
I'll carry with me back to Washington the story of thes
extraordinary war for decency which you are waging ed in this parking
lot, // on this street, // and across the streets of your
community. You truly are a Point of Light -- a beacon for others to
turn to in the grim, lonely darkness of their despair.
Your Rev. Tyler said that drugs and gangs and emptiness used to
be a "cancer festering in the heart of North Omaha". Well, you have
done radical surgery on that cancer. You've ripped it out and
replaced it with the healing balm of love. //
And I will also take back to Washington with me the lesson of
how your revolution began -- how you transformed tragedy into hope.
I will tell others of last June, when your own Sean Foster -- a
college student with no ties to gangs or drugs -- was beaten
viciously by members of a gang. of how his father John took one
look at his bloodied son and something inside him exploded.
He took to the streets to try to find his son's attackers. He
never did. But what he did find serves his community -- and all of
us -- much better.
He found that the streets belonged not to families, but to the
gangs. Not to hope, but to drug dealers. Not to the future, but to
a brutal cycle of violence and crime. And John Foster found the
voice within him to shout: "This madness must stop. "//
2
So this angry father and his friends formed MAD DADS. In the
last year, along with more than 550 others who have joined them,
they have become the dominant presence on their previously
take a hard line
devastated streets. They are father figures who talk tough against
speak
the drugs and gangs which are the predators; but soft(to the kids
who are the victims.
Your MAD DADS' logo tells your story. The outstretched, caring
hand of the loving father who embraces positive change. And the
fist of determination of the strong father who resolves to be the
force behind that change.
And these good, strong men, who talk with pain in their hearts
about pain on the streets, taken action. They paint over gang
graffiti to proclaim that they're reclaiming the city. Nightly,
they patrol the killing grounds of their streets: going out, as one
said, with nothing but "a radio, a conversation and a prayer." They
speak to schools; provide protection from gang threats; sponsor
events; counsel and care. They are fathers to a neighborhood in
desperate need of family. In the shifting shadows of midnight
street corners, they talk to lost sons of other men.
But, most importantly, they're simply there. And they care.
They are voices crying into the bleakness -- "see us and fear, see
us and believe, see us and hope. "//
John Foster's voice was one of those voices. He shouted out
against the meaningless violence he saw leading today's young men
and women into self-destruction. One by one, others joined him in
his cry of protest. Now their world is filled with a lion's roar -
- supremely strong, fiercely proud, challenging and redeeming.
3
We are today witnessing the wonder of a rebirth. It is more
than a rebirth of community. It is a rebirth of hope, of respect
for life, and of the future.
And so MAD DADS, for the inspiration and the example you set, I
am proud to honor you as our nation's 126th Daily Point of Light. //
If every community could band together as you have, we could
see the MAD DADS' spirit of caring spread -- street by street,
neighborhood by neighborhood, city by city. Crime, drugs, and
hopelessness can be -- and will be -- banished from the shadows of
our great land when each individual cares enough to add his voice
to the growing chorus of outrage. //
Thank you for all you do in the name of love. God bless you and
your children, and God bless the future of our great nation.
*
*
*
*
MAD DADS POINT OF LIGHT SALUTE / OMAHA, NEBRASKA
FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 1990 / 1:55 P.M.
THANK YOU JOHN FOSTER, GOVERNOR ORR, MAYOR MORGAN,
EDDIE STATON (STATE-UN), ROBERT TYLER, GEORGE GARRISON,
LAFAYETTE "CAP" NELSON, AND ALL OF YOU WONDERFUL,
INSPIRING MAD DADS, MAD MOMS, AND MAD KIDS. I'M GLAD
I'M HERE TODAY TO MEET YOU AND TO VISIT YOUR NEW
HEADQUARTERS.
e
- 2 -
I'LL CARRY WITH ME BACK TO WASHINGTON THE STORY OF
THIS EXTRAORDINARY WAR FOR DECENCY WAGED IN THIS
PARKING LOT, //ON THIS STREET, // AND ACROSS THE
STREETS OF YOUR COMMUNITY. You TRULY ARE A POINT OF
LIGHT -- A BEACON FOR OTHERS TO TURN To IN THE GRIM,
LONELY DARKNESS OF THEIR DESPAIR.
YOUR REV. TYLER SAID THAT DRUGS AND GANGS AND
EMPTINESS USED TO BE A "CANCER FESTERING IN THE HEART
OF NORTH OMAHA".
- 3 -
WELL, YOU HAVE DONE RADICAL SURGERY ON THAT CANCER.
YOU'VE RIPPED IT OUT AND REPLACED IT WITH THE HEALING
BALM OF LOVE. //
AND I WILL ALSO TAKE BACK TO WASHINGTON WITH ME THE
LESSON OF HOW YOUR REVOLUTION BEGAN -- HOW YOU
TRANSFORMED TRAGEDY INTO HOPE. I WILL TELL OTHERS OF
LAST MAY, WHEN YOUR OWN SEAN FOSTER -- A COLLEGE
STUDENT WITH NO TIES TO GANGS OR DRUGS -- WAS BEATEN
VICIOUSLY BY MEMBERS OF A GANG.
/
- 4 -
OF HOW HIS FATHER JOHN TOOK ONE LOOK AT HIS BLOODIED
SON AND SOMETHING INSIDE HIM EXPLODED.
HE TOOK TO THE STREETS TO TRY TO FIND HIS SON'S
ATTACKERS. HE NEVER DID. BUT WHAT HE DID FIND SERVES.
HIS COMMUNITY -- AND ALL OF US -- MUCH BETTER.
HE FOUND THAT THE STREETS BELONGED NOT TO FAMILIES,
BUT TO THE GANGS. NOT TO HOPE, BUT TO DRUG DEALERS.
- 5 -
NOT TO A BRIGHT FUTURE, BUT TO A BRUTAL CYCLE OF
VIOLENCE AND CRIME. AND JOHN FOSTER FOUND THE VOICE
WITHIN HIM TO SHOUT: "THIS MADNESS MUST STOP. "//
So THIS ANGRY FATHER AND HIS FRIENDS FORMED MAD
DADS. IN THE LAST YEAR, ALONG WITH MORE THAN 550
OTHERS WHO HAVE JOINED THEM, THEY HAVE BECOME THE
DOMINANT PRESENCE ON THEIR PREVIOUSLY DEVASTATED
STREETS.
- 6 -
THEY ARE FATHER FIGURES WHO TAKE A HARD LINE AGAINST
THE DRUGS AND GANGS WHICH ARE THE PREDATORS; BUT SPEAK
SOFTLY TO THE KIDS WHO ARE THE VICTIMS.
YOUR MAD DADS' LOGO BEHIND ME TELLS YOUR STORY.
THE OUTSTRETCHED, CARING HAND OF THE LOVING FATHER WHO
EMBRACES POSITIVE CHANGE. AND THE FIST OF
DETERMINATION OF THE STRONG FATHER WHO RESOLVES TO BE
THE FORCE BEHIND THAT CHANGE.
- 7 -
AND THESE GOOD, STRONG MEN, WHO TALK WITH PAIN IN
THEIR HEARTS ABOUT PAIN ON THE STREETS, TAKE ACTION.
THEY PAINT OVER GANG GRAFFITI TO PROCLAIM THAT THEY'RE
RECLAIMING THE CITY. NIGHTLY, THEY PATROL THE KILLING
GROUNDS OF THEIR STREETS: GOING OUT, AS ONE SAID, WITH
NOTHING BUT "A RADIO, A CONVERSATION AND A PRAYER."
THEY SPEAK TO SCHOOLS; PROVIDE PROTECTION FROM GANG
THREATS; SPONSOR EVENTS; COUNSEL AND CARE. THEY ARE
FATHERS TO A NEIGHBORHOOD IN DESPERATE NEED OF FAMILY.
- 8 -
IN THE SHIFTING SHADOWS OF MIDNIGHT STREET CORNERS,
THEY REACH OUT TO THE LOST SONS OF OTHER MEN.
BUT, MOST IMPORTANTLY, THEY'RE SIMPLY THERE. AND
THEY CARE. THEY ARE VOICES CRYING INTO THE DARK --
"SEE US AND FEAR, SEE US AND BELIEVE, SEE US AND
HOPE." //
THE HANDFUL OF DETERMINED NEIGHBORS WHO FORMED MAD
DADS WERE THOSE VOICES. THEY SHOUTED OUT AGAINST THE
MEANINGLESS VIOLENCE THEY SAW LEADING TODAY'S YOUNG MEN
AND WOMEN INTO SELF-DESTRUCTION.
- 9 -
ONE BY ONE, OTHERS JOINED THEM IN THEIR CRY OF PROTEST.
Now THEIR WORLD IS FILLED WITH A LION'S ROAR --
SUPREMELY STRONG, FIERCELY PROUD, CHALLENGING AND
REDEEMING.
WE ARE TODAY WITNESSING THE WONDER OF A REBIRTH.
IT IS MORE THAN A REBIRTH OF COMMUNITY. IT IS A
REBIRTH OF HOPE, OF RESPECT FOR LIFE, AND OF THE
FUTURE.
- 10 -
AND so MAD DADS, FOR THE INSPIRATION AND THE
EXAMPLE YOU SET, I AM PROUD TO HAVE HONORED YOU AS OUR
NATION'S 126TH DAILY POINT OF LIGHT. //
IF EVERY COMMUNITY COULD BAND TOGETHER AS YOU HAVE,
WE COULD SEE THE MAD DADS' SPIRIT OF CARING SPREAD --
STREET BY STREET, NEIGHBORHOOD BY NEIGHBORHOOD, CITY BY
CITY.
- 11 -
CRIME, DRUGS, AND HOPELESSNESS CAN BE -- AND WILL BE --
BANISHED FROM THE SHADOWS OF OUR GREAT LAND WHEN EACH
INDIVIDUAL CARES ENOUGH TO ADD HIS VOICE TO THE GROWING
CHORUS OF OUTRAGE. //
THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO IN THE NAME OF LOVE. GOD
BLESS YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN, AND GOD BLESS THE FUTURE
OF OUR GREAT NATION.
###