Intro
For my final project, I decided to write a series of letters between two people. The theme I chose was racial injustice. I chose this because I thought it would be interesting to see the lives of two strangers be united through a still relevant struggle in America. In these letters you will notice that I made up names of cities, hospitals, grocery stores, etc. So I guess this is realistic fiction. But before you read, here is a little character analysis to help you get to know each person better…
Cynthia Walden
Gloria Brown
April 14, 2020
Creeks Worth, NY
Dear Gloria,
Hello my name is Cynthia Walden. Thank you for your willingness to help me. I've been in a really tough place these past couple of weeks. My husband Jerry was admitted to a hospital in the city after contracting the Covid-19 virus, from what we believe came from a stray dog around our town. The Longridge facility is about 2 hours away from our home in Creeks Worth, NY. They say I'm only allowed to visit him every two weeks because of how contagious the illness is. So we like to send letters to each other to keep in touch. In the beginning the letters he sent me were happy and optimistic. He told me that he was doing better each day and would be home in no time. However, after a couple of weeks passed, his letters to me changed. He talked about how they are discriminating against him because he is African-American. He said how most days they refuse him meals and proper cleaning, they call him racial slurs that I won’t mention and that overall he is just miserable. So like any decent human being, I decided to confront the Hospital Staff. When I brought it to their attention, they laughed it off saying, “ you know how crazy they can be”. What did she mean by this? Then they proceeded to tell me that he was just a little weary from his treatment medication and assured me that he was properly being cared for just like all the white patients. So I believed them, and since I was to see him at the end of that week I decided to just wait until then to talk about it. As the end of that week approached I kept having this tingling feeling in my stomach. It's like I couldn't stop myself from just imagining all the things he described actually happened to him. Anyway, the next day I drove down to the hospital to visit him. when I walked in, my heart fell into my stomach, I couldn't breathe. Jerry's face was swollen with a blackened eye. The nurse immediately told me that he had fallen out of his bed the previous night, Then added “ you know how clumsy they can be”. Yet that still didn't explain the foul odor in the room. I could only get within six feet of him and couldn't touch him, so I called out to him “ hey Jerry it's Cynthia honey, how are you?”. He glanced at me with this Stern angry look then he turned his head in the opposite direction and for the rest of the time he refused to acknowledge me. I’ve been twice since then but he stiil acts the same. what should I do? Any advice?
-Cynthia
April 17, 1958
Ovinspring, New York
Dear Cynthia,
The pleasure is all mine. I'm really sorry to hear about your husband Jerry. However, what Jerry is going through is a world I'm all too familiar with. See my family and I recently moved into a small bedroom apartment above the shop where my husband works. My husband's name is Loyde, Loyde Brown But our friends back home call him stew. Together we have now two children after our first born Danis was taken away from us, but I'll get into that later. Our second son's name is Marcus, he's 15 and our sweet baby girl is Tonya, she's 11. We make a decent living, I work as a housemaid for the Lawsons and together my husband and I earn about $155 a month. It's enough to feed our mouths and clothe our backs, the essentials of course. Enough about me, let's get back to your problem. I take it that you are a white woman, right? I don't mean that and no bad way, just that I can understand your position in this. If you don't mind me asking, do you trust your husband, has he ever given you a reason not to? It sounds like to me those letters aren't out of weariness from medication, they’re a cry out for help. Here in Ovinspring, life is hard but that's just the way it is for us black folks. This is an all white neighborhood and the only reason why we’re here is because Loyde's boss took a liking to him and offered him a higher position. See we used to live in the south, Berreck, Alabama that is. Let Loyde tell it, life is better but to me it's just the same. Every day carrying the fear that some white people gon come get us just like they did Danis. Danis I was only 19, just turned it as a matter of fact. Loyde had sent him to pick up some eggs at Gim's grocery store back in Berreck. Now we had gone to this grocery store all the time and never had a problem. It was on Danis’ way back that a group of about 8 white men, young and old approached him. They started screaming at him, telling him that he stole them eggs. But just like Loyde taught him,He kept his head up and proceeded to walk. They called him everything but the child of God but he refused to give them the time of day. So they attacked him,they beat him to death with a crowbar and left him in the street to rot. It was Michie who found him. When we heard the news, our hearts shattered. The very thing that we tried so hard to avoid was impossible. The weight of the world came down on our family. About six months later, some witnesses came forward and the eight men were tried. I'll never forget them names, Thomas, Dillard, Preston, Greg, Matteson, Bennett, Jax, and William. Those heartless men killed my Danis. Though we tried everything to convince the judge that they were guilty and didn't deserve to see the light of day again, like most cases they found some way to blame the black victim. They said he stole them eggs and tried to pick a fight with them and that it was pure self-defense. They won the judge’s favor. By the grace of God we got to have a new beginning here in Ovinspring. Though Our Lives still aren't equal to our white brothers and sisters, we make the best out of each day. My point is Cynthia, it is very rare that any black person will make up the discrimination that they face, And maybe he's angry that you believed someone else's word over his. Now, I don't know if he'll ever forgive you,that's between you and him. Moving forward, don't you ever again allow ignorance to tell you different than what you feel in your gut.
I hope My words taught you something.
Kind regards,
Gloria
June 1, 2020
Creeks Worth, NY
Dear Gloria,
Thank you for your honesty. Since I got your letter, I have been thinking hard. I realized that by believing those nurses I was betraying my own husband's word and that I was refusing to acknowledge the truth of the black people in our country . After her your story and struggles, I now understand how ignorant and uneducated a lot of us can be and that it is so important to hold ourselves accountable for our wrongdoings. Since then I got my husband out of Longridge and he is now at Mapleville, which is closer to our home in Creeks Worth. He has recovered tremendously and is expected to be home in about 5 days. We still have some issues we need to work out but if it hadn't been for your words and kindness to me Gloria, Jerry may have very well not been alive today. Thank you for teaching me something I should have been taught a long time ago. I hope that your family will get the kindness and gentleness that you all deserve.
with all my heart thank you,
-Cynthia and Jerry
For my final project, I decided to write a series of letters between two people. The theme I chose was racial injustice. I chose this because I thought it would be interesting to see the lives of two strangers be united through a still relevant struggle in America. In these letters you will notice that I made up names of cities, hospitals, grocery stores, etc. So I guess this is realistic fiction. But before you read, here is a little character analysis to help you get to know each person better…
Cynthia Walden
- A 52 year old woman in the year 2020
- Writing about her husband Jerry Walden, age 59 who has contracted Covid-19
- They live in Creeksworth, New York (countryside/rural area)
- Cynthia is a Caucasion woman and Jerry is an African-American man
- They have no children
- Seeking Gloria’s advice
Gloria Brown
- A 49 year old woman in the year 1958
- Writing to give Cynthia advice on her problems
- Has a husband named Loyde Brown, 52 years old. Together they now have two children, after the passing of their eldest son.
- Danis Brown (died, age 19)
- Marcus Brown (15)
- Tonya Brown (11)
- They live in Ovinspring, New York (an all white neighborhood in the suburbs. Highly red-lined. )
- They are an African-American family who face brutal discrimination on the daily.
April 14, 2020
Creeks Worth, NY
Dear Gloria,
Hello my name is Cynthia Walden. Thank you for your willingness to help me. I've been in a really tough place these past couple of weeks. My husband Jerry was admitted to a hospital in the city after contracting the Covid-19 virus, from what we believe came from a stray dog around our town. The Longridge facility is about 2 hours away from our home in Creeks Worth, NY. They say I'm only allowed to visit him every two weeks because of how contagious the illness is. So we like to send letters to each other to keep in touch. In the beginning the letters he sent me were happy and optimistic. He told me that he was doing better each day and would be home in no time. However, after a couple of weeks passed, his letters to me changed. He talked about how they are discriminating against him because he is African-American. He said how most days they refuse him meals and proper cleaning, they call him racial slurs that I won’t mention and that overall he is just miserable. So like any decent human being, I decided to confront the Hospital Staff. When I brought it to their attention, they laughed it off saying, “ you know how crazy they can be”. What did she mean by this? Then they proceeded to tell me that he was just a little weary from his treatment medication and assured me that he was properly being cared for just like all the white patients. So I believed them, and since I was to see him at the end of that week I decided to just wait until then to talk about it. As the end of that week approached I kept having this tingling feeling in my stomach. It's like I couldn't stop myself from just imagining all the things he described actually happened to him. Anyway, the next day I drove down to the hospital to visit him. when I walked in, my heart fell into my stomach, I couldn't breathe. Jerry's face was swollen with a blackened eye. The nurse immediately told me that he had fallen out of his bed the previous night, Then added “ you know how clumsy they can be”. Yet that still didn't explain the foul odor in the room. I could only get within six feet of him and couldn't touch him, so I called out to him “ hey Jerry it's Cynthia honey, how are you?”. He glanced at me with this Stern angry look then he turned his head in the opposite direction and for the rest of the time he refused to acknowledge me. I’ve been twice since then but he stiil acts the same. what should I do? Any advice?
-Cynthia
April 17, 1958
Ovinspring, New York
Dear Cynthia,
The pleasure is all mine. I'm really sorry to hear about your husband Jerry. However, what Jerry is going through is a world I'm all too familiar with. See my family and I recently moved into a small bedroom apartment above the shop where my husband works. My husband's name is Loyde, Loyde Brown But our friends back home call him stew. Together we have now two children after our first born Danis was taken away from us, but I'll get into that later. Our second son's name is Marcus, he's 15 and our sweet baby girl is Tonya, she's 11. We make a decent living, I work as a housemaid for the Lawsons and together my husband and I earn about $155 a month. It's enough to feed our mouths and clothe our backs, the essentials of course. Enough about me, let's get back to your problem. I take it that you are a white woman, right? I don't mean that and no bad way, just that I can understand your position in this. If you don't mind me asking, do you trust your husband, has he ever given you a reason not to? It sounds like to me those letters aren't out of weariness from medication, they’re a cry out for help. Here in Ovinspring, life is hard but that's just the way it is for us black folks. This is an all white neighborhood and the only reason why we’re here is because Loyde's boss took a liking to him and offered him a higher position. See we used to live in the south, Berreck, Alabama that is. Let Loyde tell it, life is better but to me it's just the same. Every day carrying the fear that some white people gon come get us just like they did Danis. Danis I was only 19, just turned it as a matter of fact. Loyde had sent him to pick up some eggs at Gim's grocery store back in Berreck. Now we had gone to this grocery store all the time and never had a problem. It was on Danis’ way back that a group of about 8 white men, young and old approached him. They started screaming at him, telling him that he stole them eggs. But just like Loyde taught him,He kept his head up and proceeded to walk. They called him everything but the child of God but he refused to give them the time of day. So they attacked him,they beat him to death with a crowbar and left him in the street to rot. It was Michie who found him. When we heard the news, our hearts shattered. The very thing that we tried so hard to avoid was impossible. The weight of the world came down on our family. About six months later, some witnesses came forward and the eight men were tried. I'll never forget them names, Thomas, Dillard, Preston, Greg, Matteson, Bennett, Jax, and William. Those heartless men killed my Danis. Though we tried everything to convince the judge that they were guilty and didn't deserve to see the light of day again, like most cases they found some way to blame the black victim. They said he stole them eggs and tried to pick a fight with them and that it was pure self-defense. They won the judge’s favor. By the grace of God we got to have a new beginning here in Ovinspring. Though Our Lives still aren't equal to our white brothers and sisters, we make the best out of each day. My point is Cynthia, it is very rare that any black person will make up the discrimination that they face, And maybe he's angry that you believed someone else's word over his. Now, I don't know if he'll ever forgive you,that's between you and him. Moving forward, don't you ever again allow ignorance to tell you different than what you feel in your gut.
I hope My words taught you something.
Kind regards,
Gloria
June 1, 2020
Creeks Worth, NY
Dear Gloria,
Thank you for your honesty. Since I got your letter, I have been thinking hard. I realized that by believing those nurses I was betraying my own husband's word and that I was refusing to acknowledge the truth of the black people in our country . After her your story and struggles, I now understand how ignorant and uneducated a lot of us can be and that it is so important to hold ourselves accountable for our wrongdoings. Since then I got my husband out of Longridge and he is now at Mapleville, which is closer to our home in Creeks Worth. He has recovered tremendously and is expected to be home in about 5 days. We still have some issues we need to work out but if it hadn't been for your words and kindness to me Gloria, Jerry may have very well not been alive today. Thank you for teaching me something I should have been taught a long time ago. I hope that your family will get the kindness and gentleness that you all deserve.
with all my heart thank you,
-Cynthia and Jerry