Thank you it’s about time.
I always recoil in horror anytime I’ve researched the Emmett Till
I always end up feeling a like a historian.
And wishing that his story was fiction,but sadly it’s a sad reality that’s part of to some people ‘’unheard history’’.
I know most people would love to have it wiped from the record books, and erased from peoples’ minds.
But now due to the innovative director Chinonye Chukwu his story has resurfaced.
I always believe seeing is believing.
You have to see it to believe what life was like for a few in that time of history.
Emmett Till was a young 14 year old boy born in Chicago.
Who went to visit his extended relatives in Mississippi, and due to him entering a store with his family and ‘allegedly’ either whistling or greeting the Caucasian shop owner’s wife.
Due to that ‘’contact’’,he was later accosted in the middle of the night by the store owner’s husband Roy Bryant , and his half brother, and was mercilessly lynched.
What is the bitter irony black people were in attendance, and were supposedly recruited to participate in the barbaric act.
Then to add insult to injury the boy was dumped like a piece of garbage in the river, and his bloated body resurfaced 3 days later.
I always feel sickened to know a boy regardless of colour can suffer a fate so undignified, and that his family were powerless to help and get true justice.
The most powerful thing to come from this tragedy was at his funeral.
Mrs Till made the brave selfless decision to have a open casket at his funeral to showcase what has America come to ,when a boy can be obliterated for apparently overstepping the line in regard to ‘’race relations’’ in that period.
And true that image stuck with the world it stuck with me.
But I find that patience is a gift.
Because would we believe the country that this barbaric act was perpetrated in.
Can be the same country to allow a black man to run for president and win twice.
So I believe time is a healer, but also at the same time not an eraser.
And I bet you would love to know what happened to the lynch mob.
Due to the prejudice of an all white jury.
The killers were found not guilty ,but due to double jeopardy they later smugly confessed.
Basically a kick in the teeth to the Till family.
I always feel grateful that even if society isn’t perfect.
It has improved and encouraged for diversity to be celebrated not alienated.
I always wonder how our ancestors endured the hardships of that time.
They must have been warriors because those inhumane treatment they endured could break even the most toughest of spirits.
His suffering Emmett Till wasn’t in vain he allowed for productive race discussions to be brought to the table.
And no matter how hardened you are that infamous picture of Emmett Till in his casket truly did it’s job in shaming the country in regards to the mistreatment of people of colour in that time.
The beauty of cinema it has the ability to entertain, but most importantly educate.
And the Emmett Till story is something I think we can all learn from.