Michael Brown Funeral: 3 White House Officials Attend, But None Sent To James Foley’s Memorial

If tragedy isn’t enough to think about when it comes to the loss of two lives, there’s this; three White House officials were reportedly sent to Michael Brown’s funeral on Monday, but none showed up at James Foley’s memorial Mass on Sunday in Rochester, New Hampshire. Foley was an American journalist beheaded by the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) terrorists.

President Barack Obama reportedly sent three White House aides to Monday’s funeral for Michael Brown, the 18-year-old African-American who was shot dead by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Brown’s funeral was held at Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church.

Connie Hammond is an administrative assistant at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Foley’s hometown. She tells CNS News that no one representing the White House appeared at Foley’s Mass.

“There was nobody that represented the White House,” Hammond says.

Tom Bebbington, Director of Communications for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester, shared which officials attended the memorial. They include New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan (D.), Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R.-N.H.), and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D.-N.H), and Rep. Ann Kuster (D.-N.H.).

Bebbington, too, confirmed that no one from the White House were in attendance.

Three Washington officials were sent to Missouri for Michael Brown’s Monday funeral. The representatives were “Broderick Johnson, chairman of the White House’s My Brother’s Keeper Task Force; Marlon Marshall, the deputy director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, who went to high school with Brown’s mother; and Heather Foster, who is an adviser to the Office of Public Engagement.”

James Foley was beheaded by ISIS terrorists. The callous murder of the freelance photojournalist shocked the world.

FOX News reports that more people attended Michael Brown’s funeral than former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s last year.

President Obama said this in a statement released after James Foley’s death:

“Jim was a journalist, a son, a brother, and a friend. He reported from difficult and dangerous places, bearing witness to the lives of people a world away.

“Today, the American people will all say a prayer for those who loved Jim. All of us feel the ache of his absence. All of us mourn his loss.”

CNS News asked why no one attended Foley’s memorial.

Ned Price, National Security Council spokesman, answered:

“The President expressed his profound condolences to the family in his statement last week. He was speaking on behalf of his Administration—as well as the American people—in offering these words to the Foley family, and he continues to keep them in his thoughts as we attempt to bring the other American hostages home.”

[Image via Daily Caller]