April 6, 2017 Dear Deborah Archer, Hi my name is Suko and I’m 10 years old. Thank you for visiting our classroom and answering my questions about the police officers in jail and having pepper spray and a thing to slap other inmates with. I personally don’t think that is fair because the police officer could hurt them and say that they have hurt themselves to get out of the jail and the police officers that are not imprisoned can put them in the sweatbox. Before you ask, my dad is a social worker so I know this stuff pretty well. I was so sad when you talked about the klu klux klan and how they broke your window and ruined the paint by spray painting it. The klu klux klan is so bad I just can’t imagine how terrible it was to have them threaten you when you were in the middle Louisiana at a supermarket. That is so scary. I hope you never get in touch with them again. You probably know that my Dad is a social worker and he has shut down 2 or 3  jails in the last year I think and he has visited so many. He has to see so many people and kids in jail all beat up. The majority are black so I wanted to know if you have ever visited a jail. If so did you think about how much they suffer and have to deal with not being with their kids or family. I just feel so sad I don’t like to think about it. Love, Suko   April 6, 2017 Dear Deborah Archer, Thank you so much for coming to our classroom today. You taught me everything from a different perspective. It was like watching a movie. I got all the facts. I expected that since you were a lawyer I thought that you would talk more about the current president and his dilemmas. Or I thought that you would have talked about the law. After your visit though, I learned that a Civil Rights lawyer talks about Civil Rights, so in different words my favorite part was how you turned your talk about Civil Rights into an extensive conversation about your childhood. I loved how your voice sounded when you talked about the experiences happening when you were a kid. It was a lot like reading the books we had read in class. I felt like everything you talked about, for an  example, the discrimination that happened hundreds of years ago, was very intriguing. It felt like that to me because our school is very mixed with every culture and it seems preposterous to think that white and black people didn’t always get along. It also seems quite scary. Not didn’t ALWAYS get along, but didn’t get along fifty years ago. Out of all the spine-chilling, dastardly, nefarious, phantasmagorical stories that occurred in the time of your visit, the most bloodcurdling one was the story about the KKK. When you told me about the time when you were in Louisiana running an errand and the KKK gave you a note that put me on my toes too when you told the story. I think of the KKK as old news from the 60’s but you made me think of them as if they were right behind me. Thank you again for coming to our classroom and teaching us and giving us understandable exhilarating answers to our questions. I don’t have any more questions. Sincerely, Avery   April 6, 2017 Dear Deborah Archer, Thank you so much for coming in and talking about your job. I really loved how you told us about cases you did and problems some people were dealing with. Like a kid  could not go to school for six months because  he had autism. It was also interesting to me when you talked about your opinion on some of the problems with cops and people like the KKK. Thank you for answering our questions in such a great way. Hearing you talk about people being treated unfairly made me sad but when you talked more it gave me hope that things would change and people won’t be treated unfairly. Thank you so much and I hope you can give other people hope. From, Nate   April 6, 2017 Dear Deborah Archer, Thank you for coming in and telling us about your job as a civil rights lawyer. I like the way you answered my question. I asked if  any of the cases you have worked on impacted your life somehow, and you replied by saying that all of the cases that you worked on made an impact on your life. When you completed a case you felt like you achieved something, something good. I liked when you said that because you put some thought into the answer. There is a certain problem with police officers. I think they’re using violent actions against people who are colored and innocent. Whenever they think that someone looks suspicious, or might be doing something wrong,  they worry for their own safety, and then they react violently (by shooting them), before they think about what they are about to do. I think they react like this because some of the officers may be biased or prejudiced against the race. Before the officers shoot, they should first check to see what the person is doing.  If the person is not doing anything wrong, then the officers should leave. If the person is committing a crime, then the officers should do their job. Basically, what I’m trying to say is, officers should not be prejudiced and biased against people of color in a violent manner. Once again, thank you for coming in and telling us about your job. From, Gia   April, 6 2017 Hi Deborah Archer My name is Zen and I’m one of the fourth graders. Thank you for explaining more to us about Civil Rights and for coming in and sharing with us your story. Your story was brave and bold because you would risk your life just for other people. It’s really nice that you would do that. My favorite part was when that child just couldn’t go to school because his abilities are not good which I think is horrible. I remember when I was in kindergarten and I had to stay at my table because I didn’t know how to explain my math but my teachers didn’t give up on me they kept trying to tell me how to and they never gave up and finally I got it covered. So I think that’s just messed up. I think it was very bold again because when the Klu Klux Klan said they were here and how you didn’t want to miss your client and you weren’t afraid. If someone said that to me I would be like, “Oh shoot are they here now?!?!?!?” And I would run away. But this is from a kid’s perspective so it’s different. It’s so amazing how you are so determined to push the government to make America live up to its promise. Sincerely Zen,]]>