For a group of student representatives, the attacks in Boston hit very close to home.
The National Center for Student Leadership hosted members of ASLPC for a conference in Boston, ending on April 7. Student body president Cherry Bogue was one of those people. She was looking after two children at the time of the attack and said she was having a hard time finding words of comfort.
“My first encounter with it was when it popped up on CNN,” Bogue said. “I had just been there last week and we probably walked past the route that they were taking. It’s so crazy to think that I was there last week.”
“He (one of the children) doesn’t remember 9/11. It was so bizarre — it took me out of my own reaction of it because I was so busy trying to comfort them. They don’t have that frame of reference for anything like 9/11 that’s even bigger. It’s crazy to me,” Bogue said.
Other members of student government were also taken aback.
“I was surprised and upset. I was in Boston a week ago, and it seemed a good place to me. I know everyone has their reasons, but it’s hard to understand,” Kevin Lopez, current ASLPC senator and head of the Textbook Loaner Program Subcommittee, said.
One senator was seemingly speechless when thinking of the families.
“What can I say?” ASLPC senator Jed Lipp said. “What could I say to help?”
In his Monday address to the nation, President Obama vowed that the perpetrators “will feel the full weight of justice.”
“Today is a holiday in Massachusetts — Patriots’ Day,” President Obama said. “It’s a day that celebrates the free and fiercely independent spirit that this great American city of Boston has reflected from the earliest days of our nation. And it’s a day that draws the world to Boston’s streets in a spirit of friendly competition. Boston is a tough and resilient town. So are its people. I’m supremely confident that Bostonians will pull together, take care of each other and move forward as one proud city. And as they do, the American people will be with them every single step of the way.”
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney addressed the media Wednesday morning, after skipping Tuesday’s usual briefing. The address was short and Carney talked about the envelopes sent to President Obama and Senator Roger Wicker. Carney also dodged direct questions regarding the attacks in Boston, predominately saying “I would refer you to the FBI.”
“As you saw from a statement from the FBI, as well as a statement from the United States Secret Service, there was a letter addressed to the President that at an offsite mail facility was noticed to have contained a suspicious substance in tests that were undertaken,” Carney said. “The FBI has the lead in that investigation, of course, and has said in its statement that they will be conducting further tests to determine what the nature of the substance is.”
According to the Associated Press, the preliminary test results of the substance confirmed it as ricin, which is a poisonous substance.
