The Secret Service shut down a previously scheduled rally for cancer-stricken children and their parents so that President Obama could attend a fundraising gala for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.
The event, CureFest for Childhood Cancer, is described as an event to “unite the childhood cancer community and the general public as one voice against childhood cancer and to make childhood cancer a national priority.” The event was cleared through the city and the organizers had a permit to be in LaFayette Park from 7-9pm Saturday night.
The Secret Service descended on the park and barricaded the entrances for two hours, stopping the group from having a candlelight vigil for children who had lost their battle with cancer. The reason? President Obama was leaving the White House at a nearby entrance to attend a fundraiser.
Natasha Gould
“We ended up waiting at the gates for two hours, and they never let us in,” Natasha Gould, an 11-year-old from Canada who started a blog after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor this year, told the Washington Post. “And to be clear, the entire crowd was half kids. I cried last night in my hotel room because it was my first CureFest, and I couldn’t believe people were acting like they don’t care about children.”
The Secret Service issued a statement late Sunday night that the barring of the children and their parents from the park was “standard protocols” prior to the President moving around in the area of the White House.
“The Secret Service would like to express its regret for not communicating more effectively with this group concerning the timeline for protectee movements in the vicinity of Lafayette Park,” spokesman Brian Leary said in the e-mail to the Washington Post.
CureFest asked the White House to light up gold for childhood cancer they way they’ve done for other causes.
Those attending the event say the Secret Service wouldn’t even allow those who came to the event to enter the park to retrieve their belongings including medication for some of the children. Many were forced to leave for hotel rooms to obtain medication or for children to rest.
The group has been asking the White House to light up the building gold in support of children with cancer and to call for more cancer research, a similar action to when the White House celebrated gay marriage by lighting up the building in rainbow colors.
The group held the candlelight vigil because the White House has thus far refused to light the building gold.
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