Dear Mr. Lewis,

Car with broken window from bullet https://www.dreamstime.com/illustration/broken-car-glass.html

While reading pages 173-246 and finishing your book MARCH altogether, many things were unpleasant, but the ending left me in a better state of mind. Threats and violence directed towards African Americans, along with murders from white folks, took place in these pages. Innocent humans, we are talking about here. They have not done anything wrong, just merely standing up for what they believe in and being more than discriminated against for it.

Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech to the mixed-race community in Montogomery, Alabama, at the Capitol rally. He spoke about no lie, being able to live forever. His speech did not sink into the hearts of the crowd members in attendance. Afterward, a 39-year old mother helped shuttle volunteers back to Selma from Montgomery and got followed from the rally by someone else in a car belonging to the KKK. They pulled up alongside her vehicle and fired a single bullet through the car window, killing her. All she was trying to do was help shuttle volunteers back to Selma. I do not understand the hate in people’s hearts that makes them do the things that they do.

On August 6th, 1965, the Voting Rights Act was signed into law by President Lydon Johnson. All the pointless killings and blood that was shed from fearless African American protestors, all the tears shed, all the hours spent rallying with the SNCC, and all the planning to make our nation become a better place to live was finally worth it. In the final pages of the book, it showed two men of different races getting along together and carrying along a conversation with one another. This had very rarely been exhibited throughout the whole story, and this time, it showed peace starting to settle between the two races. I felt fulfilled after seeing the pictures and dialogue from the comic strips as I viewed the very last page.

Sincerely,

Michael Hayes