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Nicolas Morales Jr.: “I will need to be strong, and with the help of loving people, I will manage to become stronger, and to become a good man, just like my dad was.”

Last week’s vigil and petition delivery outside the Collier County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) in Naples was an extraordinary event. It was extraordinary not so much for the power of its numbers, at least compared to memorable CIW actions from the past, but for that of its message, and in particular, for the eloquence and urgency of the words of so many of the speakers that Friday afternoon in Naples.

We dedicated our original post on the vigil to those words, quoting extensively those speakers whose energy and commitment made the protest so memorable. But while that made for a compelling narrative, it also left the words of one young man who desperately wanted to be there to deliver his own message to Sheriff Rambosk but couldn’t make the trip — Nicolas Morales Jr. — at the bottom of a very long report, so long that many readers surely never made it all the way to the end to read his letter. So today we are re-posting Nicolas Jr.’s open letter in full, as a photo gallery in his own hand, on our website. We will let his words speak for themselves, asking only that you take a few minutes to read his thoughtful letter, and to consider what you can do to help make his vision of long-overdue justice for his father a reality.

Click here to see Nicolas Jr.’s letter in full and to read the rest of the post, including video and excerpts from the excellent Naples Daily News coverage of Friday’s protest.

Read Nicolas Jr.'s letter