Graduation Speech: I Am Racist

Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Schultz. I hope this letter finds you well. Remember me? I remember you. I’m sure you already know who i am, but i’ll tell you anyway to jog your memory a bit. It’s Tom. Tommy Payne. From a few years back. I write you today to tell you that i want you to know why i did what i did. If you’re not interested in somebody spouting their mouth off telling you things you already know trying to justify a federal crime, burn this letter. Live forever thinking your daughter a victim. I don’t care anymore. But just in case you are, i labor anyway over this spiral bound notebook in my prison bunk bed. I am about to tell you a story about headache, heartbreak, and the total loss of any interpretation of a loving god in modern america.

But the most definite thing i noticed that day was that Anna wasn’t in spanish this morning. This caught me off guard immediately, why would she be gone? She usually shows up for class every morning! I set my paranoia aside for a few hours to avoid alarming anybody. I might see her at lunch at the same table she always sat at. Are you still reading, Mr. and/ or Mrs. Schultz? I apologize for boring you with all these unnecessary details, so since you are probably getting irritated with me, i’m going to condense the rest of this story into a few, easy to read sentences. When she was at lunch, her head was down and she was sobbing. I asked her what was wrong, and she wouldn’t talk to me. I later found out that my dad called one of YOU and YOU had called the school and told them that a student there may be a carrier of an STD, the report was ignored by the school, but somehow word came out and a rumor started. In a flash, the blame was pinned on poor Anna because somehow somebody saw her motion her head. The next few days were hell on poor Anna, people were teasing her, threatening her on twitter, and making her life a genuine living hell. I talked to the staff multiple times, but they turned me away and said they don’t participate in teen affairs. She left the school for a few more days after that because i later found out that it had gotten so bad that she attempted suicide. Since the injuries were minor, the school decide to make her come back. I did some looking around, and found out that the person that was at the crux of the events that led up to her attempted suicide was, you guessed it: Brit Schultz. Your daughter. The reason one of the only people i ever could say i loved was nearly taken from us. When i approached her, i initially wasn’t planning to lay a hand on