Yesterday, we completed our 1,000 Miles to Memphis voting rights march. I’ll have a full report on that soon as we are just getting started.
But right now, I want to talk about today.
Today, August 28, 2026, is the 71st anniversary of the kidnapping, torture, and lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till.
That is not a coincidence. It is a calling. A reminder of how near this history is today.
During our march, our team stopped at the site where Till was murdered, to pay our respects. Standing there—on that ground, in that Mississippi heat—the weight of what this country has done and refused to reckon with is not abstract. It is physical. It is present. It is real. And it is a reminder as we reflect on the rise in seemingly mysterious hangings of Black people, that the horrors of yesteryear are still thriving, and the work remains. Let’s Address This.
I understand that even now, some people reading this have never before heard of Emmett Till. So let me remind you. Emmett Till was a 14-year-old Black child from Chicago visiting Mississippi. On August 27, 1955, white supremacists kidnapped him, tortured him, and murdered him. Why? On the false accusation of whistling at a white woman named Carolyn Bryant. His murderers were caught—and then acquitted of all charges by an all-white jury. No one was ever held accountable for his murder.
Emmett’s mother made the painful decision to hold an open casket funeral—she wanted the world to see what fascists had done to her baby. I’m reminded of the words of the late great James Baldwin, who reminded us in his 1980 essay, Notes on the House of Bondage:
The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality.
My children are the same age or older than Emmett Till. I see him as my child—as he will forever remain a child in this life. But had he lived. Had he been afforded the basic humanity every child deserves, Till would have been 85 years old today. For perspective, ten current members of the United States Congress are older than Emmett Till would have been. This is not ancient history. This is yesterday.
And here is the part too many people forget: Carolyn Bryant—the woman whose false accusation set his murder in motion—only died three years ago. A warrant for her arrest for falsely accusing Emmett Till was documented and intact. It was never executed. She lived the remainder of her life unhindered, unaccountable, and free.
That warrant. Never executed.
Black boys deserve to grow old. A refrain that has become too common in the wake of Nolan Wells, Kohen Wiley, Kaleif Browder, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, and the list is yet ongoing. Emmett Till deserved to grow old. He did not—because white supremacy decided his life was worth less than a lie. And the system that white supremacy built decided that lie was worth protecting for seven more decades.
This is why we marched. This is why 1,000 Miles to Memphis was not just a voting rights campaign—it was an act of remembrance, of resistance, of radical hope. The organizations we partnered with on this march have risen up in direct response to atrocities like the lynching of Emmett Till. Our goal was to elevate their work, amplify their voices, and ensure that the movement he never got to be part of continues in his name.
I will have a full report on the march very soon. But today—say Emmett’s name. Say a prayer for him. And help us build a future worthy of the 14-year-old boy from Chicago who never got to see it.
Emmett Till. July 25, 1941 – August 28, 1955.
Qasim Rashid is a human rights attorney, President of Just Win Humanity, and host of Let’s Address This. Subscribe, share, and let’s remain relentless in our mission for a more perfect Union.
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It's unconscionable that this torture and death happened 71 years ago. And it continues to happen. I was just sitting with a new African-American friend and talking about so many things. The current lynchings, framed as non-sensical self-harming actions. Yes, we white people need to speak up. EVERY TIME! 😭😭😭
I marched to Selma as a young college student - i wept at the graves of those is Selma and mad a vow to never forget - and to dedicate the rest of my life to speaking up/out about the lingering disputable
Hypocrisy amongst so may of my white brothers and sisters … still doing this work som 8 decades later - it’s necessary and critical NOW as it was then - Join with others in your neighborhood- city - town - continue to say NO to hatred - bigotry - radical
Racism !!!