Gerrity+R.

Please respond to the following : Pretend you are an African American teenager living in the 1930's. Write a letter to a friend describing your reaction to seeing Emitt Till's body and hearing his story in all of the newspapers. What emotions would you feel? How would this affect your future behavior?

My dear Aunt, I am certain that you recall the sight of cousin Jimmy’s body when he was lynched? You said that you had never seen anything more vile and disturbing in your entire life, remember? Well, I now have something to top Jimmy’s death, Lord rest his soul, although I think you may have heard about it from the papers. If this letter gets too horrid for you to read, my apologies, ma’am. Have you heard of the story of that Till boy? Emitt Till? If not, it is quite a sad story. Poor kid moved down from good old Chicago all the way down to the deep south of Mississippi. Now as most of us know, the ways of the South are far different then Chicago. Apparently his mama, poor thing, warned little Emitt about the ways of the South, but the poor boy did not take her words seriously. So he and his family went to the local grocery, buying candy and soda of sorts. I do not what started it, but what I heard was one of the most dangerous things to do: He whistled at the lady who was running the store while her husband was out. I really could not believe that he did such a shocking thing, and down there no less. I shudder now just to think of the rage her husband had when he discovered what had happened. Long story short, that poor boy was beaten, shot in the head, and thrown into the river. I went to see the body myself and…Aunty, I really wanted to look away, but I could not take away my gaze away from what happened to that poor, poor soul. His entire body swelled up due to being in the river for several days. I am surprised his mother could recognize him; I knew that I would not be able to. Seeing him…was terrible. It was like seeing my own brother die, or like reliving Jimmy’s death. I despise those devils that beat him and shot him, but hopefully, they will be condemned for their sins. …No. That was wrong. I wish that they would see the error in their ways. I also pray for the Emitt boy, hoping that he made his way to the gates of heaven. So, Aunty, as I write this, I do not just pray for these things; I pray for every poor soul whose fate is the same as Emitt, Jimmy, and many of our other friends that they also have been welcomed in God’s arms. I also pray for change, for change is the only thing that can stop this madness. Aunt Helene, please, pray with me. Sincerely yours, Your Niece

//**MY EXCUSE**// It is a truly amazing story, really, and I should mention now that I am extremely blessed to be alive at this point in time. It all started yesterday morning. So there I was, minding my own business and being the good girl that I am, when I guess this phone call. So as painful as it was, I stopped my homework and picked up the phone and said, “Hello?” No answer. I looked suspiciously at the number to see if it was my friends prank calling me, but I did not recognize it. I sighed irritably and hung up. And then, the television bursts to life, and the guy on the news is screaming about a spontaneous tornado, heading straight for me. I looked outside the window in confusion; it was the most beautiful day ever. So beautiful in fact, that I will continue my homework outside. As I sit down on the grass, I see it. About ten miles away, the tornado was heading straight for me. It moved faster and faster, conveniently avoiding everything else and hurdling for me. As I scream and run away in terror (while still holding my homework), someone grabs me by the shoulders and pulls me into their car. Pocketing my homework, I stare up into the eyes of my rescuers. These fine gentlemen were clowns, Stiffy the Stiff, Smiley the Depressed, and Clyde. They were on their way down south for a vacation and wanted to stop down my street, since Smiley had some family down here. They were just about to leave when they saw me. So the four of us kept driving for hours and hours, and I got so tired that I fell asleep. Clyde woke me up later, and when I looked out the window, I discovered that we were in Mexico. I yelled at them to let me off at once, so they threw me out of the car in the middle of the street. I walked around for hours, wondering where in Bob’s name I was specifically. When I asked the locals for directions, all they did was speak Spanish. Some help that was. Then, just as I felt like giving up, feeling as if all hope was lost, there he was. George or Jorge as they call him down in Mexico. Now, as you know, people named George are usually very awesome, but THIS George was even better, because he was a buffalo, a Mexican buffalo. I begged George to show me the way home, and he told me he hop on his back and he would take me home. Now, I do not know if you have ever ridden on a buffalo, but George used his Georgeness to help his get me home super quickly. As we reached my front door, he mentioned that he was hungry and asked for some food in return of his services. He mentioned that he was on a strict diet and could only eat white lined paper. I took out the crumbled homework page out of my pocket and George looked hungrily at it. I did not want to be rude, so I gave it to him. He thanked me and ran off home. So, if you want me to get my homework back, I would have to go back to Mexico... and I really do not want to.

//**ARE PEOPLE BORN GOOD OR BAD?**// Why do we as humans find so much pleasure in gossiping, spreading rumors, and things of that nature? Are people born to do such things? What is easier, to work to be good or work to be bad? It is harder to be good and not do such things, because many people in our day and age do these bad things for reasons I am not sure of. Maybe we as a society focus so hard on the negativity because it is easier that way than looking on the bright side. One reason is maybe the bright side of a situation is not enough to keep a person happy; the negative side is far more easy to see and to deal with for people. Maybe it is because there will always be that "what if", that negativity to the positive side of things, that worry that will always stay with people that something will go wrong. I really do not have any real answers, but those are merely my opinions, nothing more. But no one can be born bad or good, only your choices that you make will effect how people view you as either "good' or "bad".


 * 3: Beatrice says, "You are very different from Rebecca." Who was Rebecca? What was her daily life like?**

Light slowly crept into the large room, slowly but very bright. But as the woman sun began to rise, the light seeped more and more into the room. Across from the window was a bed, large yet cozy, and as the sun's rays hit the bed, something within its depths began to rise. Rebecca smiled as she looked out the window, feeling the hope of a new day flowing within her. Little did she know how she took that hope so much for granted. Yawning slightly, she began to get ready for the day, going over the list of things she would need to do as she buttoned her own dress and combed her own hair. She usually had Mrs. Danvers assist her, but the kind woman was still asleep, and Rebecca thought she could do it herself. She quickly put her hair up into a quickly done yet elegant- looking bun, and sighed heavily, wondering where Maxim had gotten to; was he off somewhere, or did he fall asleep in his study again? She would not have been surprised if he did; It had recently become a custom for Rebecca to find him in his study fast asleep, yet when he awoke, he would simply shoo her away. She could not make heads or tails of this new behavior of Max's, but, as she had discovered in the past, it is better to just accept things then to go and investigate them; solving the mysteries of Manderley and its inhabitants was out of the question. None of the others are up yet, either that or they are all hiding, Rebecca thought, looking around as she walked outside for her daily alone time. Just before everyone started her day, she would go outside and watch the sun brighten the day, listen to nothing but the beautiful whispers of trees as the wind tickled their branches. Rebecca felt that she needed this alone time, for she was surrounded by many people making many demands of her constantly throughout the day. She did not know, of course, of what her fate was to be, that soon her 'alone time' would be the only thing she would have left. All the alone time she could ever ask for. Sadly, Fate could not and would not interfere with what was to come, so this morning was quite like any other for Rebecca. She gave a little smile as she heard a crash of pots and pans coming from the kitchen. She took one last deep breath before turning around and returning into the house.

