Week 3 Response

Dear Thomas,


            I ask you to please take the time to consider my words before you react to what I am about to say.  You must understand that the life I live here is simply unavailable to me if I return to America with you.  In France, I am free.  I am not bound by the law to be property because of the color of my mother’s skin.  I have experienced exploration and education and having breathed this fresh air, I cannot willingly give it up.  You see me as a woman and here the citizens do too.  If returning to America means sacrificing my individualism and femininity, I simply will not do it.   In France, I am a lady.  In America, I am not.
            
Though I will miss my family who remains at Monticello, I now have new family I must now think about.  The future sovereignty of our child is determined in whether I stay or I go.  How can I subject my own children to live a life restricted when I have known one of greater freedom?  I wish for them to live as I have these past few years.  I wish for our child to be free to roam the Champs-Élysée and live without fear of being sold away from family.  The legal system in France sees me as free and will see our child similarly.  This sense of freedom will not exist if I return to America.  I plead you to not paint me as selfish, but to understand that our circumstances are not the same.  I have far more to lose than you if I choose to return to America.  As a black mother, I know the best action I can take given the circumstances is to stay in France for the sake of freedom.  Please respect my situation just as you respect me. 
           

With love,

                        Sally

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