To whom it may concern: Shine a light on Poverty and Homelessness

I wrote an email to the Obama campaign this morning to raise the issue poverty and homelessness. After watching his special I was a little disturbed. I couldn't understand how Obama did not address these issues directly. Please believe I have mailed a letter to "Obama for America * PO Box 8102 * Chicago, IL 60680" and I plan to contact the Campaign Headquarters, here's the number: (866) 675-2008. Why did I do this? Well because I needed to and I had to get these thoughts off of my chest :) I want to encourage all of you in someway or another to write a letter, make a phone call or even email the campaign as well. I realize we are at the tail-end of the election, however, anytime is a good time to advocate for homeless people - who is going to speak up for this population. (I have made some edits before sending the hardcopy in the mail; my assistant is on a leave of absence for like 6 months) Here's what I wrote:

Sent:Thu 10/30/08 12:38 PM To: info@barackobama.com To whom it may concern: I wanted to write this note to give you my opinion on the ad's that were was shown last night. My family and I caught it on the ad on BET. We were glad that oObama spoke about the issues on health care, employment, and most importantly the state of the economy. However, as a donor to his the Obama campaign I was shocked that by his reluctance to address issues concerning is speech really didn't talk to people living in the inner cities. More than anything, the ad's DID NOT directly address "POVERTY and/or Homelessness". I did not say the "Middle Class" or "Wall Street". I do believe Barack will be the next president, but I would really hope that he shines a light on this population via viral video (free advertising) OR some other media outlet before Tuesday. What happened to being your brothers keeper or being your sisters keeper? I wasn't trying to listen to people (Tavis Smiley or Blogger Sandra Rose) talk bad about Barack in any kind of way because well I like his charisma :) But now I see where they are coming from! Barack has not been representative in his advertising to these communities populations especially within the past week. This scares me because now the politician is really starting to show.We need a little more than just seeing Barack, michelle, and the girls(they are definitely cute) as representative of the black/african community. Bring his message to the people in California, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, and Michigan. Did you know in the state of washington and specifically in the city of Seattle, if you are homeless and you have a criminal record that then a person in that situation will not even be allowed to secure housing? That is frightening! Where will these people go - answer: back under bridges, or freeways on the sides of buildings, wandering streets, jail, or possible a mental institution....just use you imagination. THE MESSAGE YOU BARACK IS ARE SENDING SAYS THIS: This population does not vote so I'm taking my message to people who will; it was very subliminal but I heard it. That is not being accountable. Be specific about how you plan to help thisese community population within the first 90 days in office. Because at some point you will need these communities (african/african american, latino, asian, multiracial) and their resources! I'm just saying to raise $150M in one month (according to CNN) and not send a message to those communities directly is totally hypocritical! I probably won't cry, scream hallelujah once Barack wins the election. I'll just go on about my business and continue to do what I can do for my community. Hope you understand where I am coming from. Thanks, HotChocolate206 (sike, I put my real name) PS. I am a community organizer and in my opinion your ad's are did not helping" me. Please do not send another email to me about giving more money "if" you all do not plan to fully support these populations, plus I need to pay I my rent, childcare, buy food, buy gas and try to add to my depleted savings. I'm sure there is a surplus of campaign money floating around. Exhaust your resources man. Exhaust them! Take a moment to address these issues about poverty and homelessness. If you don't you have failed me and will perceived as no different that Hillary, Bill, the other guy running for president who can't even remember his own Secretary of State Endorsements (that's what I meant to say) or the lady from Alaska :) I could have posted a "not so nice" message on my blog but instead I wanted share this thought with your campaign and people I know that can relate and possibly understand my frustration with politics and politicians. Don't get blindsided by your privilege okay, you see what happened to Hillary. Anything can happen on Tuesday.

Here was their response:

From: Obama for America (no-reply@barackobama.com)

Thu 10/30/08 12:56 PM

Reply-to:Obama for America (no-reply@barackobama.com)

To: another email that is not shakintrees@gmail.com

Dear Friend,

Thank you for contacting Senator Barack Obama and Obama for America. Barack is gratified by the overwhelming response to his candidacy, and we appreciate hearing from you. Please note, though, that we are now replying only to emails sent through our webform. You may resend your message through the webform here:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/contact/

We also encourage you to submit your policy ideas through the My Policy feature of our website, here: www.BarackObama.com/issues (I went here an reposted my email) We have also created the Answer Center, an easy-to-search database of questions and answers that lets you find information on a wide range of subjects from volunteering to policy positions. Try it out here: http://answercenter.barackobama.com The webform and other technologies help improve our ability to communicate with you and efficiently read and respond to the thousands of messages we receive every week. Please note that you can use it to cut and paste large messages and links to other websites. Thank you for using the webform, it helps us improve the process of communicating with you. Sincerely, Obama for America ------------------------------ Paid for by Obama for America

Voting is an option, writing letters is an option, picking up the phone is an option, and talking to people is an option. So now that you know what I'm have done, please post your comments below.