Paul how much the plant was losing in the strike, but he couldn’t leave it at that, so he also wrote an impassioned note telling him about everything that had happened in Dothan several years earlier. Michael said he knew that nobody he worked with at Georgia Pacific was like the people who beat him up that night, and he didn’t want the company to be known for that sort of thing.

Michael left his explanation on Paul’s desk and headed to the AME church. He took Reverend Miller’s advice and spent most of his time there listening. The maintenance men got up and told their stories in turn. When they had finished, Michael got up and said, “Do you guys (he never did quite pick up y’all) still have that list of requests?”

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