The murder of Emmett Till is a tragedy synonymous with racism, injustice, and white privilege. His death rocked America in the 1950’s and led to a contentious debate over the evils of lynching. The incident began when 14-year-old Till entered a corner store in Money, Mississippi on August 24, 1955. Exactly what happened in that corner store has long and often been disputed, and it remains unclear even to this day. However, in the 1950’s, the story that mattered most to supporters of white supremacy was that of the white woman in the situation, Carolyne Bryant Donham. 21-year-old Donham claimed that Till made some lewdsexual advances and whistled at her, leaving her, in her own words, “scared to death.” Days later, Donham’s husband, along with his half-brother, tracked down Till, brutally beat and disfigured him, and dumped his broken body in the Tallahatchie River.
The murderers were caught, but were unsurprisingly acquitted by an all-white jury that same year, with the help of false statements from Donham herself. Now, the case could have ended there, like those of the other countless lynchings in American history. However, Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, did not allow that to happen. She held an open-casket funeral for her son, allowing his battered body to be seen by the entire country and memorializing him as a martyr. Until recently, this was accepted as the end of the story — a “he-said, she-said” disagreement in which the more privileged party was believed. Indeed, it may have remained this way forever if Donham had not confessed to lying about the case on her death bed. Upon being questioned about the events of that fateful summer day, Donham revealed that Till had never, in fact, made sexual advances towards her. This revelation sent bombshells through the country as it became clear, once and for all, that one of the most notorious civil rights cases in American history had been completely based on a lie.
In reality, the importance of this case does not lie with Emmett Till or even with Donham and her husband. People have long-doubted her story, and even many of those who believed Donham did not think that Till deserved the brutal torture that his murderers bestowed upon him. The real importance of this confession is what it means for today’s civil rights battles. We like to think that terrible tragedies like that of Emmett Till are a thing of the past. However, in reality, the brutal and racially-charged murders of minorities have just taken on another form. Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown are the new Emmett Till. All across the country, innocent minorities are being shot and killed for dubious reasons. The parallels don’t stop there. Time and time again, there is no other witness to confirm the story, or the testimonies of minority witnesses are discounted and thrown to the wayside. The privileged murderer, often a white male, is usually acquitted after a short trial in which they describe the victim as “dangerous,” “thuggish,” and “scary,” all words that bear a foreboding similarity to the false ones that Donham used to describe Till.
What society has to do now is recognize these similarities and stop history from repeating itself. Unfortunately, the life of Emmett Till cannot be saved, nor can the lives of Trayvon Martin and other victims of the countless racially charged murders that have occurred since 1955. However, minorities do not need to keep dying in vain. Fair trials and further inspection into the stories of these privileged witnesses can and will allow true justice to be served. It is now up to everyday Americans to put pressure on law enforcement officers and to ask for more when only presented with one side of the all too common “he-said, she-said” story. Together, we can all change this horrible and deadly trend and make sure that the deaths of victims of racial violence are avenged.
