Richard Downing
![Richard Downing Richard Downing](https://www.unlikelystories.org/sites/default/files/richard_downing_fixed.jpg)
Richard Downing has received awards and recognition from the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (1st place), New Delta Review (1st place), New Woman (Grand Prize), Boston Review, Writecorner Press (Editor’s Award), Press 53, Colorado Review, and Solstice (Editor’s Award). His work appears in Arts & Letters, Two Thirds North, The Malahat Review, and many other journals and anthologies. He holds a PhD in English, co-founded the Florida Peace Action Network, and is an activist concerned with meaningful and immediate actions to keep our planet livable and equitable for all writers of fiction. Richard recommends Feeding Tampa Bay.
So I said it straight: I’m a felon. And son of gun, she didn’t hesitate, didn’t even blink, just kept on that smile, looked me straight in the eye, and told me as long as I hadn’t committed murder or a sex crime I was good to vote.
“Englishman. Jamaican man. What’s the fucking difference? He is what he is. You’ve seen him, I’ve seen him. Bottom line—he just sounds weird. Uppity, better than the rest of us with that whatever-the-hell-it-is accent.”