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Luigi Mangione, suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, departs after a hearing at Blair County Courthouse on December 19 in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. Mangione has received dozens of letters and emails as well as monetary support while in prison, a report by the New York Post has revealed. Photo: Gene J. Puskar-Pool/Getty Images via Newsweek, December 21,2024 |
are about what you’d expect Jesus to receive
if he had mail privileges
at Mount Zion, near Holy Sepulcher or Calvary.
I work for a company that prints letters,
photos, and books for inmates that people
upload and purchase for us to send.
I fold the letters, put the photos in envelopes,
noticing the names of inmates, the patterns
of image, of word, what gets sent and said.
Every letter to Luigi begins with an endorsement of full support.
Some just want to connect, say where they’re from
what they do for a living. They include a phone number,
a few photos of them hiking, walking a dog at sunrise,
a post gym ab showoff shirt lift, a night out on the town.
Most letters contain stories about illness.
How they lost their child, father, brother, mother,
wife, sister, best friend, high school crush, how
they have lost themselves to denials
of treatment plans, medication, surgeries.
There are pictures and pictures of X-rays,
pedicle screws for spine fusion and support,
scars on backs, calves, bellies, breasts, pictures
of phantom limbs gone to the time waiting for an approval.
The letters often close with:
“For the first moment since my diagnosis I feel
like you understand what I’m going through.”
Or “I’d do anything to be healthy again,
thank you for giving me hope that things will be different.”
These are people who:
Have stopped writing and calling their leaders.
Understand that statistics have no effect in making a point.
That murder is wrong but wonder what do you call
the death of millions in the name of profit?
Last week I was processing mail for Puff Daddy.
Now its Luigi, a man-made avatar,
expressing the ignored collective suffering of the people.
Jesus was a guy in jail on charges of terrorism.
These are days in which we are able
to reach more people than any other time before.
Yet look what we are doing:
To be seen.
To be heard.
To be validated.
We have been taught the alternatives.
Yet our fracture,
bound by violence,
gets the attention.
Can you begrudge the people for cheering?
Andrew Romanelli was born and raised in Las Vegas. His first poetry book Rotgut was published by Zeitgeist Press. You can find him @downcharleston and at andrewromanelli.com .
