Dear John Lewis,

  In my further reading, I have come to understand more of some of the racial tensions and inequality that happened during the events of the book, with the example that stood out the most to me that happened in Roseville Mississippi in June. Colored clergymen looking for their other missing church members were stopped and questioned by police officers on their way to look for them and were arrested without further question and brought into custody. Even while explaining the context as to why they were looking around, the police just made the basic assumption that these ordinary black men were up to no good, with the questions. This resonated deep within me, as I feel like I would feel violated if something like this was to happen to me, with police officers making up their mind that they were going to put me through turmoil, especially in a state of crisis where I am just looking for my missing church brothers. This brings attention to the fact that Law enforcement during that time simply just didn’t care, and you were automatically branded for being a person of color. In this situation, I would only wonder why this is the case. Why I was getting arrested when I should instead be getting help. Why the predetermined hate? Why the lack of empathy? And many more questions still burning inside me. In the midst of this turmoil, media attention was drawn to this seemingly ordinary town in the racist south with the conspiracy of weapons being stolen from the national guard being amidst, which puts priority into perspective. And to think that arresting colored people was really all that more important.

your avid reader, Oral