In “The Fight” section of Butler's Kindred, it is revealed that Tom Weylin, Rufus Weylin's father, wrote and sent a letter to Kevin, who is living up North. Dana learns this when Rufus gives her a letter that Kevin had written to Tom in response. Tom had written to Kevin after he learned that his son had not sent Dana’s letters to Kevin despite promising he would do so. Fairness factors into his father’s behavior because he believes that a man must keep his word, no matter what. In Tom’s view, then, Rufus has dishonored himself—and thereby, his family—by lying to Dana. It was unfair of Rufus to lie to her, a failing that Tom's letter aims to fix.
This sequence of events develops after Dana returns to the plantation and the past after an interval in her present, during which Kevin had been left in the past for...
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several years. During that time, he had moved away, although the Weylins know where he is As Dana becomes trapped on the plantation, she appeals to Rufus to help her contact Kevin. Over several months, she writes numerous letters asking him to return. Rufus promised to send the letters, but never does. When Alice tells her that she found the stash of letters, Dana learns that Rufus had lied to her, knowing that she would leave with Kevin if he came back.
When Tom Weylin learns of his son’s deception, he is disappointed that Rufus has broken his vow. He takes it upon himself to contact Kevin, who then writes back to tell Dana he will return soon. Rufus comments that his father believes that “giving his word to a black [or…] white” is equally important.
Why does Weylin send Kevin a letter in "The Fight" in Kindred?
The letter episode between Tom Weylin and Kevin happens in the section of the book called "The Fight." Dana and Kevin have been separated in time: Dana is apart from Kevin when she is being beaten by Tom Weylin. Dana returns to the present, while her husband Kevin is stuck in the past.
When Dana is summoned again into the past, Kevin is nowhere to be found. She learns that five years have passed since her last visit, and Kevin has returned to Boston. Dana writes Kevin a letter informing him that she is back, and Rufus agrees to mail it. After weeks pass without an answer, Dana learns that Rufus has not mailed the letter after all, in a bid to keep Dana for himself. But when Rufus' father Tom finds out about his son's deception, he mails the letter himself. Rufus says that his father is the only man he knows "who cares as much about giving his word to a Black as to a white."
There is a twisted sense of honor in Tom's decision to mail the letter, given his utter debasement and brutality as a slaveowner. While his sense of "justice" led him to string Dana up and whip her for running away, it also compelled him to make good on his son's promise. Nothing is "fair" about this.