Clik here to view.
On my way for a visit home last fall, my bus from New York to Boston was delayed because of protests in both cities in the wake of the Darren Wilson decision; it was early morning when my mom picked me up. The grand jury in Ferguson failed to indict Darren Wilson, the man who shot Michael Brown, and people were mad. “This shouldn’t still be happening,” my mom said. “It reminds me of Emmett Till.”
Emmett Till’s name is the beginning of a story that’s haunted us for the better part of a century. A young black boy brutally killed for whistling at a white woman. The men who killed him were never charged.
Emmet’s mother Mamie, who insisted on an open casket funeral, also insisted that photographs of Emmett Till’s gruesomely murdered body be seen publicly, far and wide across the country, and today we still feel the impact of those images. It’s impossible to block out how disfigured and wholly dehumanized this boy appeared in death, who in life appeared as this vital-looking baby-faced kid.
Sixty years later, mothers and fathers of slain black boys in shockingly recent times will be special guests at the Emmett Till Remembrance Dinner — among those attending: Michael Brown, Sr., father to Mike Brown; Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin’s mother; Ron Davis, father of Jordan Davis; and Kadiatou Diallo, mother of Amadou Diallo.
We honor these parents and commemorate their children, along with Emmett and Mamie.
ScenariosUSA is a nonprofit that uses film and writing to amplify youth voices on social justice issues.
Learn more here.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
The post We Remember Emmett Till, Murdered 60 Years Ago Today appeared first on Scenarios USA.
