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
As a Southern white girl born in 1943, I never attended school with anyone African American until I reached college, but I remember Emit Till because someone at my summer camp was a daughter of an associate at Jet Magazine, and they had a lot of photos including, I think, his open casket, and it was a shock.
Deb Blackwood-Thank you for writing this. It must have been extremely emotional for you to to visit Selma as a young student. And here we still are, sooo many years later and what has ever changed?!! It is good you have dedicated your life to trying to bring light to these lynchings, still to this day and maybe a bit of acceptance of all labeled “other” though we are all the “same”!!!! It is more than awful.I am a white woman but just cannot, even now grown, quite wrap my head around the kind of hate that drives these people to kill innocent people, and in the worst way and more than that, for absolutely NO reason except these types need to hate other humans. What drives this level of hate? And the worst part, most of the klan leading this hatred, is comprised of what people will say are “good, God fearing christian’s”!!! Having grown up in a fundamentalist environment, I have seen hate at work, but have just never been able to understand the why of humans disgusting need to always have some “other” human to hate.It is just beyond understanding.
I wonder, as Rodney King is once credited with saying, “why can’t we all just get along”??!! And, yes, WHY??? And the biggie, WHY NOT??? We are all human after all. What does it even matter what color our skin is? And what does it even matter what we believe or not about how to serve God, or if He even exists? Why do some people NEED to have another human to hate? And why?? They do not even know each other-have never met, yet some folks just decide to hate someone else today??!! Why? We all bleed red after all. What does it matter to you if the God I serve I see in a way different from your view? He is still the one God up in heaven, no matter what name we humans give to Him. Why is that a reason to hate? I respect whatever way you serve God, why do you automatically think my way is the “wrong” way, and then hate me for seeing my God in a way different than you do?? He is still the same God that I love and serve, even if I call him a different name. What is wrong inside these many many people who just have a terrible driving need to hate someone??!! Skin color is nothing more different
than the clothes I choose to wear, different from you but covering the same blood vessels and organs we all have in common. Why cannot we all just do what Rodney King was trying to say, and just all either try to get along, or just walk away and live and let live???!!! Just why the hell not???!!! Life is too short for all of us.No one is getting out of this world alive, no matter what some rich men may think.
Sooo, please folks, let it begin with us!!! Let peace begin at the very least within our hearts and our souls and just maybe at least we will find some form of that peaceful coexistence and innocent folks of whatever color of skin will not die for nothing but a human’s need to hate someone.
2 of my 4 daughters are biracial. Many of my grand and great grandchildren are also. They are all shades. I have seen in my Sw Michigan town how little brown children are seen as grown at an early age. I want better for them. They deserve better. That mother's heart was broken till the day she died. Thank you for this beautifully written piece.
Qasim, in so many respects, Jim Crow has never left America. Thank you for honoring Emmet and telling the truth about the monsters STILL murdering out of hate a false sense of supremacy. They are the real animals.
I'm glad that you are reminding us of Emmett Till. I worked for 25 years with Emmett's mother's good friend who was a nurse at our VA and she told me the story. The story needs to continue to be told. Thanks.
Qasim, thank you for this timely and pertinent story as it does need retelling, especially since still some citizens in this country feel that’s the definition of greatness again. As a young person growing up in the sixties this is absolutely mind boggling to think it’s here we go again time! It’s absolutely absurd.
However on a brighter note I am impressed , but not surprised, by your participation in this march. Many good people will take note of your example along with so many other good Americans that participated on this march. I say “Well Done “ to you all. I am thinking that all of those who participated in this event have learned so much and have just experienced a life altering moment. Thank you Sir.
That is so beyond sad, so beyond sad, so beyond sad. Just an innocent child who happened to be Black. I guess all the White people who contributed to his death were able to choose their skin color before they were born?
With all the recent hangings, I have found myself thinking about Emmett Till and what his mother must have felt. I have also thought about the parents of all the recent hanging victims, and I cannot even imagine how they feel. We must never forget Emmett or any child lost to hatred and violence. I will continue to say his name and the names of others.
The racism, cruelty and injustice that led to Emmett Till's murder are still in existence today, and these things are probably getting stronger than ever because we have a racist (among other descriptions) residing in the People's House, and he has been giving his fellow racists and white supremacists not only his permission, but even his blessings, to continue their actions and to spread their hatred against anyone they consider inferior. The ranks of ICE are clear solid proof.
And now assumed lynchings are on the rise again. The many hangings and suspicious deaths of young black people. Telling the story of Emmet Till is even more important now.
What a tragedy and so emblematic of the plight of African-Americans in America. Bigotry is scarcely concealed in Trumpism that would roll back all the gains of the Civil Rights Movement if it could. Any day I expect the administration to announce that the MLKJ monument will no longer be lighted at night or something similarly petty and vindictive. Two more years to suffer this monster but good in that the distancing from him will only continue. Just like Israel, Trump is incapable of being anything other than what he (it) is.
America i believe exists in the past in many people's minds. I was surprised to see the confederate flag flying above a number of State buildings during a road trip taken between New Orleans and Orlando in 2011. Maybe the civil war hasn't ended in some minds?
Excellent work Q! Please add Kendrick Johnson to the list. KJ was a young, black 15/6 yo in HS. There's a really good documentary about his murder (Amazon or YT). The primary suspects?? Two white brothers & classmates of KJ. Coincidentally, the brothers' father was an FBI agent. The white boys were never charged. This happened over 10 years ago. It was reported that the motive may have been about a white girl & Jealousy. Apparently she dumped one of the white brothers she was dating bc she had a crush on KJ. This took place in GA.
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! 😭😭😭
Dude right? This isn't ok and shouldn't be normalized!
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 !!!
As a Southern white girl born in 1943, I never attended school with anyone African American until I reached college, but I remember Emit Till because someone at my summer camp was a daughter of an associate at Jet Magazine, and they had a lot of photos including, I think, his open casket, and it was a shock.
Deb Blackwood-Thank you for writing this. It must have been extremely emotional for you to to visit Selma as a young student. And here we still are, sooo many years later and what has ever changed?!! It is good you have dedicated your life to trying to bring light to these lynchings, still to this day and maybe a bit of acceptance of all labeled “other” though we are all the “same”!!!! It is more than awful.I am a white woman but just cannot, even now grown, quite wrap my head around the kind of hate that drives these people to kill innocent people, and in the worst way and more than that, for absolutely NO reason except these types need to hate other humans. What drives this level of hate? And the worst part, most of the klan leading this hatred, is comprised of what people will say are “good, God fearing christian’s”!!! Having grown up in a fundamentalist environment, I have seen hate at work, but have just never been able to understand the why of humans disgusting need to always have some “other” human to hate.It is just beyond understanding.
I wonder, as Rodney King is once credited with saying, “why can’t we all just get along”??!! And, yes, WHY??? And the biggie, WHY NOT??? We are all human after all. What does it even matter what color our skin is? And what does it even matter what we believe or not about how to serve God, or if He even exists? Why do some people NEED to have another human to hate? And why?? They do not even know each other-have never met, yet some folks just decide to hate someone else today??!! Why? We all bleed red after all. What does it matter to you if the God I serve I see in a way different from your view? He is still the one God up in heaven, no matter what name we humans give to Him. Why is that a reason to hate? I respect whatever way you serve God, why do you automatically think my way is the “wrong” way, and then hate me for seeing my God in a way different than you do?? He is still the same God that I love and serve, even if I call him a different name. What is wrong inside these many many people who just have a terrible driving need to hate someone??!! Skin color is nothing more different
than the clothes I choose to wear, different from you but covering the same blood vessels and organs we all have in common. Why cannot we all just do what Rodney King was trying to say, and just all either try to get along, or just walk away and live and let live???!!! Just why the hell not???!!! Life is too short for all of us.No one is getting out of this world alive, no matter what some rich men may think.
Sooo, please folks, let it begin with us!!! Let peace begin at the very least within our hearts and our souls and just maybe at least we will find some form of that peaceful coexistence and innocent folks of whatever color of skin will not die for nothing but a human’s need to hate someone.
We all need to think this through.
JoJoK
Beautiful article, Qasim. Can we please add Tyre Nichols to this list as well? He was another soul who didn’t deserve to die so young. Thank you.
2 of my 4 daughters are biracial. Many of my grand and great grandchildren are also. They are all shades. I have seen in my Sw Michigan town how little brown children are seen as grown at an early age. I want better for them. They deserve better. That mother's heart was broken till the day she died. Thank you for this beautifully written piece.
I have said Rev Barber is the closest leader we have to MLK. I was in high school when he was murdered. Qasim thank you for your work.
Qasim, in so many respects, Jim Crow has never left America. Thank you for honoring Emmet and telling the truth about the monsters STILL murdering out of hate a false sense of supremacy. They are the real animals.
I'm glad that you are reminding us of Emmett Till. I worked for 25 years with Emmett's mother's good friend who was a nurse at our VA and she told me the story. The story needs to continue to be told. Thanks.
Qasim, thank you for this timely and pertinent story as it does need retelling, especially since still some citizens in this country feel that’s the definition of greatness again. As a young person growing up in the sixties this is absolutely mind boggling to think it’s here we go again time! It’s absolutely absurd.
However on a brighter note I am impressed , but not surprised, by your participation in this march. Many good people will take note of your example along with so many other good Americans that participated on this march. I say “Well Done “ to you all. I am thinking that all of those who participated in this event have learned so much and have just experienced a life altering moment. Thank you Sir.
That is so beyond sad, so beyond sad, so beyond sad. Just an innocent child who happened to be Black. I guess all the White people who contributed to his death were able to choose their skin color before they were born?
With all the recent hangings, I have found myself thinking about Emmett Till and what his mother must have felt. I have also thought about the parents of all the recent hanging victims, and I cannot even imagine how they feel. We must never forget Emmett or any child lost to hatred and violence. I will continue to say his name and the names of others.
The racism, cruelty and injustice that led to Emmett Till's murder are still in existence today, and these things are probably getting stronger than ever because we have a racist (among other descriptions) residing in the People's House, and he has been giving his fellow racists and white supremacists not only his permission, but even his blessings, to continue their actions and to spread their hatred against anyone they consider inferior. The ranks of ICE are clear solid proof.
And now assumed lynchings are on the rise again. The many hangings and suspicious deaths of young black people. Telling the story of Emmet Till is even more important now.
And for those white Americans who insist that their country has matured beyond racial hatred I ask you very plainly:
Why are there still countless crimes committed against black men and women in which the perpetrators are never found, much less prosecuted?
Why even now when we’re finding the bodies of black victims strung up in trees do the police wipe their hands, accusing each one of suicide?
Why is ICE beyond prosecution in cases where individuals have been blatantly shot, raped and tortured, sometimes in full view of the public?
What a tragedy and so emblematic of the plight of African-Americans in America. Bigotry is scarcely concealed in Trumpism that would roll back all the gains of the Civil Rights Movement if it could. Any day I expect the administration to announce that the MLKJ monument will no longer be lighted at night or something similarly petty and vindictive. Two more years to suffer this monster but good in that the distancing from him will only continue. Just like Israel, Trump is incapable of being anything other than what he (it) is.
America i believe exists in the past in many people's minds. I was surprised to see the confederate flag flying above a number of State buildings during a road trip taken between New Orleans and Orlando in 2011. Maybe the civil war hasn't ended in some minds?
Excellent work Q! Please add Kendrick Johnson to the list. KJ was a young, black 15/6 yo in HS. There's a really good documentary about his murder (Amazon or YT). The primary suspects?? Two white brothers & classmates of KJ. Coincidentally, the brothers' father was an FBI agent. The white boys were never charged. This happened over 10 years ago. It was reported that the motive may have been about a white girl & Jealousy. Apparently she dumped one of the white brothers she was dating bc she had a crush on KJ. This took place in GA.