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To go to jail for committing a crime, such as theft, rape, or murder, must be a difficult thing to do. To go to jail for a crime never committed must be worse. It must be a taxing event, both mentally emotionally. This is the situation that Fonny is in; accused of a crime he did not commit. He however, is strong. He is able to do so with the love and support of his family. The early 1970’s were still tumultuous times for African American people. New York City was no excuse. “New York must be the ugliest and the dirtiest city in the world.”(10). Harlem New York is where Tish and Fonny grew up and still live. It is also here where Fonny was wrongfully accused of raping a Puerto Rican woman by a corrupt white police officer. Tish and the rest of the family work hard to try and free him from jail. Baldwin addresses the monumental issues of black suffrage and the strength of love in this novel. Fonny, a black man, was wrongfully accused by a white and known racist police officer, of raping a woman. He went to jail but throughout the ordeal Tish always loved him. The love that they