Dear Mr. Lewis,
In the beginning of the book you introduce the tragic murder and act of terrorism by white eagle scouts on “youth day” at the Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. 4 young African Americans were killed and 23 were injured all while attending service at church. All that I could think about while reading this story were the different emotions everyone must have felt after this tragedy had happened. The feelings of helplessness, anger, and disbelief that the loved ones of those who had been viscously murdered had to have felt. The feelings of discouragement, and weakness the different civil rights leaders must have felt. For myself, a strong feeling of disgust, heartache, and dishonor quickly filled through my body while reading this saddening story. Suddenly I was reminded of a similar feeling that I had previously felt before. An event like this one with the same exact story. In 2015 in Charleston, South Carolina A 21-year-old white supremacist, murdered 9 African Americans during a prayer service at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. When this story was first broadcasted on the news people all around were shocked. A sense of sorrow and grief were felt all around nationwide. At the time I was shocked by the story. I had never heard anything like it. Innocent people, simply practicing their religion, were murdered all because of their skin color. After all of the steps forward and fights for equality that we’ve took all these years to get us to where we are now, events like these still occur? Truth is there is no true way to combat this issue. Sure, we could enforce security at the doors of churches or put metal detectors in place, but will that actually solve the issue? No matter what there will always be someone who hates us simply because of who we are.
Sincerely,
Kennedy Matthews