Dear Two Guys,

On the night of September 7th, 2013, you two decided it was a good idea to beat me up. I don’t know you, you don’t know me, but for some reason you made me a target. Dally in the Alley was going on and there were a lot of people in Midtown, maybe you thought the crowd mentality would be good for you. You came up behind me when I was alone and started striking me in the back several times. When I turned my head and saw one of your faces, you punched me two more times in the face, knocking my glasses off. I immediately started running, (I’m a lover, not a fighter) to a group of people I had seen a minute earlier. You tried to grab me to stop me but you failed, I was way too scared to run any slower. As I ran across the street I almost got hit by a car because I didn’t want to chance you catching up to me. It was the scariest moment of my entire life and I cried from the experience and emotional and physical scars you left on me.

You attacked me on the day where Detroit was celebrating the exact opposite of what you two represent: community, strength, art, and hope for Detroit. You are the reason why people are afraid of Detroit, the reason why Detroit is constantly put down by news media, the reason why families are scared, the reason why Detroiters lock their doors every night, the reason why women walk the streets with pepper spray, the reason why Wayne State students don’t wander off campus, and the reason why people flee a city that deserves better than you.

You made me almost lose hope in a city that I love, almost. But I know that you do not accurately serve as an example for the great people of Detroit. Detroit is represented by the man who was picking up garbage that people threw around, the woman who danced for an hour to her favorite band at the Alley Stage, the bartender at my favorite bar who always gives me a free beer, the Wayne State officer who filed my report on you, the group of people I ran to who comforted me after I met you two, and the rest of the Dallyers I met that day who believe in Detroit. Although I know there are others out there like you who seek to hurt others, I also know that there is a much larger movement of people who push back everyday. They will never give up on making Detroit a better place and they will not be intimidated by the likes of you.

I hope and pray that the two of you do not repeat what you did to me. The only thing scarier than having two strangers attack me is the thought of you doing it to a Detroiter who I love and care about. I want you two to be guided to do something better with your lives, something that will benefit the community and give Detroit the name and reputation that it deserves. Even after the terrible things you did to me that night, I still believe in Detroit, and I will likely never stop believing.

Sincerely,

An Vu, Royal Oak

(The Guy You Jumped)

