WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama made it his goal Sunday to quietly attend an Easter service with his family, planning a secret trip where he made no public remarks. But presidents don’t blend in, especially in a neighborhood stymied by crime and unemployment. A crowd began to form outside Allen Chapel AME Church just before 3:30 a.m.
First came men wearing suits and women in high heels, followed a few hours later by 30 police officers who barricaded nearby roads. Then came the Secret Service, news helicopters, city politicians and bomb-sniffing dogs. By 11:04 a.m., when Obama arrived for his most substantial trip yet to Southeast Washington, hundreds of onlookers lined the streets.
As Obama and his family worshiped with 700 others for two hours, the parishioners and preachers made him a focal point of the service. His mere presence was historic, they said. In Ward 8, Washington’s poorest, Obama’s arrival was at once regarded as a reminder of the neighborhood’s problems — unemployment is 28.5 percent — and a reason to maintain hope.
“This is a monumental moment for us as a community,” said the Rev. Michael Bell, the church pastor, soon after Obama sat down. “Ward 8 has not been forgotten, not when the president would come here at a time like this.”
Until Sunday, Obama’s trips to Southeast Washington consisted of a visit to a charter school and a stop at a burger joint near Nationals Park. He had attended services in Washington five times since his election, usually to accept a blessing or make a speech. The Washington Post
