A Lesson Before Dying

Professor Askassi ENGL 102 Section 021 12 April 2010 Rodnika’s Personal Reflection on A Lesson Before Dying. The story, A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines is a awesome book so far. I can relate to this whole situation in numerous of ways. This story just bring back a time that my brother had to go through years ago and how he is still paying the price even though he guilty in all matters. I believe that the court system is full of a lot of stuff. They convict incents people for no reason. I can imagine how not only Jefferson but his family is going through.

My life has change in way that I couldn’t imagine after my brother was locked up and sentence to life in prison. My life changed tremendously on August 15, 2007 as I sat in the court room with my family and friend as the prosecutor read the verdict of my brother Rodney as guilty with two counts of first-degree murder charges and life in prison. I sat there crying over and over again because I knew that just wasn’t true and they made a mistake but then I realize that I will never see my brother again walking on these streets.

The way I was raised as I’m my brother keeper and the same goes for him. Even though, he wasn’t my mother child she felt grief that I was going through. Just a year before, my brother and I were sitting outside Barry Farm neighborhood in Washington, Dc with my cousins and friends on a nice spring day. We all was out enjoying the sun and was glad to be around the neighborhood where all the fun happens at. Even, thought this environment wasn’t as safe as it should we still enjoy ourselves and was glad to be around there.

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But then same night time, and that was my key to go in the house because too much stuff goes on at night time. I got a funny feeling inside of me to tell my brother to come inside too but at the age of twenty-one he just wouldn’t listen to me. The clock hit one in the morning and I started to hear a lot of gun shots outside of my cousin window. Then when I heard a lot going off I just knew something wasn’t right. I looked outside and there was a shootout going on in the neighborhood. I was scared and nervous cause I didn’t know where my brother was.

The gun shot had to have stopped twenty minutes later. I called and called my brother because I heard police siren everywhere in neighborhood. But, he never answered the phone. I didn’t sleep at all that night. But, then I finally got a phone call saying that the police had locked him up and took him in. I was so shocked I knew my brother wasn’t responsible for that dangerous activity that went on. When, my family and I got down there they said there are locking my brother up because he was the key shooter of this event and they found the gun he was using.

I knew my brother never owned a gun. We had to wait months for the DA to come out with evidenced that they thought they had on Rodney. While, going through trail they explained that the fingerprint on the gun matched my brother. But, I knew that was impossible. We always question them to do another test but they ignore us every time. I believe it’s funny how the court systems lock poor innocent people up. My brother is in there surviving time for something he had nothing to do with.

Till this day we are still trying to get his case back on trail so we can retest the fingerprint on the gun again. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. In the story A Lesson Before Dying, I feel sorry for Jefferson a young black man that was in a situation at the wrong place at the wrong time just like my brother Rodney. They are both in the system surviving time and will never walk foot outside of a jail yard ever again. It funny the system believes and does what they want to do and thinks it alright. But, in my brother case they will not win this battle.

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