Extra Credit-EDF 2085 Emmett Til

On Monday, March 15 Professor McNair shared an awesome poem that he wrote in remembrance of Emmett Til, the young boy who unfortunately lost his life for whistling at a white woman in the 1950's. Emmett Til was born in Chicago in 1941 to a beautiful woman by the name Mamie Til and when he was about two or three years old his father died. The only memorable thing he had of his father was a ring that was later given to him by his mother. In my opinion she raised Emmett to be a bright young man and taught him what kind of world they were living in during the times of racial segregation and discrimination. She sent young Til to his uncle's in Money, Mississippi where he was later murdered brutally by two white men that that was acquitted for the hate crime, later admitted to the crime, then sold the story for $4,000. This act was the cause of the Civil Rights Movement in America where black Americans begin to stand up for their rights such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. According to many reporters in attendance, the judicial process had failed Emmett Till, and the real question to come out of the whole trial was whether, without federal intervention, blacks could get justice in Mississippi. For many others the trial raised a different set of questions, many of them concerned with the truths of the case. Despite the best efforts of the prosecuting attorneys, the trial seemed to hide more truths than it answered as many competing testimonies were never fully explored or cross-examined. For instance, what really had happened that afternoon in the Bryant grocery? Moreover, how did Milam and Bryant find out about the alleged transgression? Who else besides Milam and Bryant drove out to Mose Wright’s cabin that night, and who were the other men spotted with Milam at the barn the next morning? Were there really black men in Milam’s pickup that evening? If so, who were they and what had happened to them? Finally, how long did Emmett Till remain alive that night, and exactly when, where, why and how did his murder take place? A handful of investigative reporters understood that the trial did not answer these questions fully and that the truth, more likely than not, had been obscured by the proceedings. In the poem I believed McNairs point was to show all races to never forget your past no matter how devastating it may be. Not for hatred to be in our hearts, but remember the pain the ones before us endured for us to be free and show how many before us died and experienced things in order for us to have a better future. We as future educators must inform and teach our students what formed our history and why history is so important.