Nine-year-old Amariyanna “Mari” Copeny is the reigning “Little Miss Flint.” Her title has given her the opportunity to meet several famous people, including President Obama and GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump. The two meetings, however, were quite different!
Mari Wrote Letter To Obama
Little Mari wrote a letter to the President about the water crisis in her hometown. She hoped the President would be able to meet with her when she joined Flint residents on a bus ride to D.C. as part of a protest.
A nine-year-old protesting. I like this girl already!
Mari did, indeed, get to meet the president. He came to Flint and made sure to make some time for the little girl who wrote to him with such passion.
Mari Did NOT Write A Letter To Trump
Not to be outdone, Trump made a trip to Flint, too. While there, a local pastor chided him for straying into the political while speaking at her church (and he decided to go off on her after the fact). He also got a chance to meet Little Miss Flint, and he sure was happy about that.
Little Miss Flint? Well, based on the picture alone, you’d think she was terrified of the man.
The fine editors at Liberal America, however, came across a Facebook page for a Ms. LuLu Brezzell, who appears to be Mari’s mom. The LA Times confirms that Ms. Brezzell is indeed her mother, and she made the following comment on her Facebook page:
“Ok ya’ll, that pic is being BLOWN way out of proportion. Mari was not terrified of that man, she still wants to ask him her question. We had to get through the crowd twice to get his attention since he walked out the opposite way he came in (which had her a bit overwhelmed), then with people yelling at him, and add the secret service to the mix, well think how you would feel? Their whole interaction was ten seconds tops. Yes she did ask to be there and meet him and was all smiles before hand but she feeds off the energy of people around her. To those saying she is traumatized for life…..seriously people?!?!“
It’s interesting how the perspective of a person who was actually there and who knows this little girl differs so much from what all of us out in cyberspace see based on a picture alone, isn’t it?
Now, Ms. Brezzell does say that Mari “feeds off the energy of people around her,” which says something about the energy in that room.
However, I do think maybe we should all take a step back and think about the little girl in the midst of all of this.
I’ll Take Her Word For It
I am 100 percent anti-Trump. I truly believe he’s dangerous and, if elected, he could lead us straight into WW III. However, I think it’s imperative that we all listen to Ms. Brezzell on this and take our cue from her.
Mari wanted to meet Mr. Trump. She wanted to speak with him, according to Ms. Brezzell:
“Mari did not get a chance to ask Donald Trump the one question she wanted to ask him, which was ‘What are you going to do for the kids here in Flint’. Flint did a great job of running him out just as fast as he got here. He did stop to meet her while being rushed out of the building. His speech came across to me as a ‘quick google search on facts about Flint’, he didn’t get chance to finish.”
So there you have it. A picture is NOT always worth a thousand words.
The next time you see some right-wing nut job losing it over a picture of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton being helped into a car, remember Little Miss Flint.
Little Miss Flint bravely deals w yet another toxic, orange-ish mess. pic.twitter.com/VHUxzQQhgM
— Allie Gross (@Allie_Elisabeth) September 15, 2016
Little Miss Flint is all of us in 2016. pic.twitter.com/grsNmSTBnd
— Abraham White (@abwhite7) September 15, 2016
Mari may have wanted to meet Mr. Trump, but I know I’m feeling like the little girl in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQJY8Jkzfds
Featured Image: Screenshot Via West Bloomfield Patch.
