Dear Eleanor,
I am sorry it has been so long since I wrote. A man visited me today. He said he had come to offer ‘encouragement,’ on behalf of the Governor, but really he came to gloat. He is the son of the sheriff who did this to me. He said the Governor had read my letters, and that I should stop writing because they would do me no good. ‘You are wasting your time,’ he said, ‘especially if you are really sick. But you don’t look sick. You look fine.’ I do not know how he could think that. I have gotten so skinny. I told him I wanted to see a doctor and I asked him to tell the Governor that was all I wanted. At first the man said he might pass on the message, but later he started laughing and said he had changed his mind and said I was a criminal who had no rights. He said I should have known better than to be a thief and it was all my fault. I told him I was no thief but he just laughed and said I was a criminal because I had tried to go to Southern. He said he went to Southern and they did not want people like me going there. I argued that I had the right to go if I wanted and I talked about the Supreme Court and he laughed and claimed I no longer had any rights, and that was why I was in jail and he was not. He had a friend with him. His friend did not say anything, even when I asked him to speak to the Governor for me. The friend was tall and very shifty with red hair and a face like a fox. I feel like I have seen him before. I do not think he will talk to the Governor for me.
I do not think the Governor will help me. He will not answer my letters. Maybe if you visited him he would help me. I have written a letter to Percy Green, who runs the ‘Jackson Advocate.’ It is a black paper and hopefully he will print something so that people know what is going on here. Remember to tell Medgar what is going on. He is a good friend and he will help us.
Your brother,
Clyde
Rabble Rouser 