DEAR MR. JUDGE

IF I HAD TO CHOOSE BETWEEN MY DAD AND PRISON, I WOULD CHOOSE MY DAD EVERYTIME.

I LOVE MY DAD. HE'S NOT A BAD PERSON, JUST A BLACK MAN WHO FOUND HIMSELF IN A BAD SITUATION. SOMETIMES HIS BAD SITUATION WAS LIFE, SOMETIMES SOCIETY, OR SOMETIMES BOTH.

YES HE HAS KILLED AND HE HAS ROBBED BUT NOT FOR HIS SAKE BUT FOR MINE. I AM HIS CHILD, IS THERE A CUT OFF PERIOD OF HIS LOVE?

HE ACTS OUT BECAUSE THAT'S THE TYPE OF LOVE HE HAS BEEN TAUGHT.

I WOULD HERE STORIES ABOUT HIM FROM ABUELA AND SEE PICTURES OF INNOCENCE.
BUT THEN IT ALL CHANGED WHEN HE SAW HIS FATHER BEHIND BARS. FROM THAT POINT ON HIS MANHOOD WAS DEFINED BY AN ENVIRONMENT WHERE HATRED AND HARM BREEDS.

HIS FATHER LOVED HIM AND WHEN HE SAW HIM IMPRISONED, TO HIM BEING A BLACK MAN EQUATED BEING A CRIMINAL. HE COULDN'T ESCAPE HIS FATE SO HE EMBRACED IT. 

MR. JUDGE IT'S NOT ALL HIS FAULT AS YOU YOU CAN SEE; WE CHOOSE TO BE WHAT WE SEE AND SOME OF US ARE WEAK AND OUR SITUATIONS TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT. 

BUT YOU'VE PLAYED A ROLE AS WELL. YOU SAW A CRIMINAL BECAUSE OF THE COLOR OF HIS SKIN, ALL BECAUSE IT WAS DIFFERENT THAN YOURS. WE BOTH SEE AN OPPORTUNITY ALTHOUGH THESE OPPORTUNITIES RESIDE ON OPPOSITE SPECTRUMS; I SEE AN OPPORTUNITY OF HAVING A FATHER WHEREAS YOU SEE AN OPPORTUNITY OF SILENCING YOUR ENEMIES.

AND NOW WHAT ME AND MY FELLOW FATHERLESS CHILDREN HAVE IN OUR NEIGHBORHOODS ARE GOOD MAN CAUGHT IN BAD SITUATIONS WHO ARE VIEWED AS DEGENERATES TO OTHERS. BUT TO US WE JUST SEE OUR DAD.

SO IF I HAD TO CHOOSE BETWEEN MY DAD AND PRISON, I WOULD CHOOSE MY DAD EVERYTIME.



SINCERELY, 
A ROBBED CHILD