Seanelle Higgins: Emmett Till Memorial Vandalised

Summary: This week, an Emmett Till memorial was found with about 40 bullet holes in it. Emmett Till was a fourteen year-old black teen killed in Mississippi of 1955 for allegedly whistling/ flirting at a white woman. The men that murdered him beat him until he nearly died, dragged his body to a river,  gouged out an eye,  cut parts of his ear,  tied him to a fan with barbed wire,  and dropped him in the river.  His body was so beyond recognition that he had to be identified by a ring that he wore.  His murderers expressed no remorse for what they did and were eventually acquitted by an all- white jury. This has not been the first time that Till's memorial has been vandalized. 2008 was when the first case of vandalism happened, but no one has been arrested for this. An organization run in Till's memory hopes to raise enough money to fix his memorial sign.



Analysis: I think that it is very tragic that this boy has lived such a short life and cannot find peace for himself even after death.  After all he went through,  it is sad to see that some people are still very inconsiderate and carry hate in their hearts for him.  This speaks a lot about our country and it's views on race. Not just in the area where he was brutally murdered,  but across the country as a whole. It is so sad a boy lost his life over something as small as flirting. I hope the organization is able to raise the money to fix his sign soon.


Synthesis: This reminds me of the case Dred Scott V. Sandford which was one of the first court rulings to negatively affect African Americans. The same happened to Till when his murderers were acquitted.