White House Names State of the Union Guests, List Includes Alan Gross

Photo by Erkan Avci/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — The White House announced the list of guests who will join first lady Michelle Obama in her box during the president’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, including Astronaut Scott Kelly and Alan Gross, recently freed after five years imprisoned in Cuba.

The White House says that the guests’ “personal stories underscore various issues on the president’s agenda,” which likely includes the recent thawing of relations between the U.S. and Cuba. In addition to Kelly and Gross, the White House will host several guests who wrote to the White House regarding experiences related to many of Obama’s goals.

Among the guests are Malik Bryant, a teenager from Chicago who wrote a letter to Santa — which was redirected to the White House — asking for “safety.” Following a series of incidents — including the police-involved deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., Eric Garner in Staten Island, N.Y., and Tamir Rice in Cleveland — Obama has called feeling safe a “fundamental right” and wrote back to Bryant saying that “security is a priority for me in everything I do as president,” according to the White House.

Also joining the first lady, Dr. Jill Biden and Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett in the box will be a community college student from Tennessee — highlighting Obama’s free community college proposal — multiple students and individuals who wrote letters to the White House and a wounded veteran, among others. In all, the White House named 23 guests who will attend the president’s address.

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