Posted on 05/04/2005 11:16:37 AM PDT by MississippiMasterpiece
The FBI will order the exhumation of the body of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Chicago boy who was taken from a Mississippi farmhouse in 1955 and killed for whistling at a white woman, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.
Till's body, which is buried next to his mother's at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, will be exhumed within the next few weeks, and an autopsy will be conducted by Cook County Medical Examiner Ed Donahue, according to a source.
"The FBI wants to know who killed Till, and due to the brutal beating he received, an exhumation may provide the evidence they need" to make a case, said the source.
The murder of Till, an unsolved case standing at the center of the American civil rights movement, gave meaning to the term "Mississippi Justice."
Then, last year, a new chapter was added to the Till story.
Documentary highlighted case
The U.S. Justice Department reopened the case following a documentary by African-American filmmaker Keith Beauchamp, 32, who claimed to have uncovered new evidence. The documentary, "The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till," chronicled Till's nightmare death and the sham trial of his alleged murderers.
It was the lack of convictions in the face of overwhelming evidence that lead Beauchamp to make his startling documentary, which took nine years to research and produce.
Beauchamp believes five people who are still alive could lend new insight into the case and that as many as 10 people either observed or took part in the slaying.
The story began innocently enough: In 1955, Till traveled from Chicago to Mississippi to spend the summer with relatives. His mother, Mamie Till Mobley, was reportedly apprehensive about letting her outgoing son spend the summer in Jim Crow Mississippi. Her worst fears were confirmed.
In August of 1955, while at a convenience store in Money, Miss., Till apparently whistled at and "sassed" a young white woman behind the counter. Three days later, Till was abducted at gunpoint from his great-uncle's home and savagely beaten, shot dead and dumped in the Tallahatchie River. Till's decaying body, attached to a 70-pound cotton gin fan fastened to his neck with barbed wire, was found three days after his abduction.
Acquitted men later bragged
Two white men, one of whom was the husband of the woman behind the counter, were acquitted of the murder by an all-white jury despite their admission they were the ones who abducted Till. The defendants later bragged about the murder in a Look magazine article, which included gruesome details about Till's slaughter.
Neither man, both of whom are now dead, was ever convicted of Till's murder.
And in 1960, the five-year statute of limitations for federal civil rights crimes expired without any other suspects being brought to trial.
The brutal slaying and sensationalism surrounding the case caused Till's close-knit family to scatter and flee to Chicago after the defendants were acquitted. Mamie Till Mobley was widely hailed as a hero for her strong, forthright demeanor during the murder trial and for insisting that her son's body be displayed in an open casket during his funeral, showing the world just how savagely he was beaten.
Mobley, who remained in Chicago, became an outspoken crusader for civil rights, and upon her death in January 2003, she was buried near her son in the city's first African-American cemetery.
Now that the U.S. Justice Department has stepped up to the plate, the source says, the FBI intends to hit a home run.
The only caveat I have to put to that is what happened on OJ Simpson's trial. I don't think the evidence was any less compelling or the reason for the verdict any different.
It's pathetic that we haven't made any progress in 50 years.
It is amazing that you can look at this story and then compare it to the OJ trial. Sounds like you are saying "it's okay that they killed this kid because they (blacks) made up for it when they allowed OJ to go free". There is no meter running on racial killings to see who's ahead! Murder is wrong regardless of who did it. Also, these two guys admitted guilt, OJ has never admitted guilt.
There's a lot I can, and probably should write about the injustices in Mississippi that I am aware of, but I don't think this forum is the correct place to do that. Suffice it to say that yes, it was a heinous crime in its time, and were it to happen now, it would be hell to pay. However, that was then and now is now, times change, people change, people fess up to their stupidity, well most of them do, but it doesn't change the fact that a kid was murdered, and his murderers got off scot free. Terrifying that it could still happen now. I'll be in touch.
And, oh, if you want to know even more about the whole shebang, just do a google on Emmett Till. You'll be reading well into the night. I will be.
And that action constitutes murder? The same traits that make all of these young blacks atheletes so lucrative to the schools and boosters in high school is what killed him? Nobody seems to care that these black kids have white girlfriends, large muscular bodies, big hands.. etc as long as they run a touchown or make a basket? But you think this look makes him worthy of death?
Oh really?
Oj at least had white, black and hispanic jurors. This guy had all white jurors that made fun of the trial.
It probably hasn't completely changed, but it's light years changed since then.
No reasonable person with knowledge of today's judicial system could argue that a court would arrive at the same verdict today in Mississippi, or that it would survive an appellate challenge.
Racism hasn't been eradicated and violence hasn't been eliminated in its cause. But it's rare today, and an Emmett Till verdict in any court, even a Mississippi court isn't possible, IMO.
Which Junior High?
What years?
I grew up there as well but the Till case was a bit before my time.
That was a very unusual post....sort of jungle feverish.
Weird.
It is a pretty unusual post but maybe what rave is trying to say is that these coaches do care but care more about scoring? I don't know.
Only responding to the jungle. I know that would sound weird.
The poster implied that looking like a man was scary. What is the importance of him looking like a man at 14? The poster implied he had big hands and big muscles. I then went further and stated that those same traits today are often lucrative to society in the form of sports stars. If it is sooooo scary for a young black male to have big hands, big muscles, and look like a man, then why the double standards?
And my opinion:
He could have had small hands and no muscles. The only part of his looks that were scary was his skin. He was black and he spoke to/touched a white woman.
I'm not saying that it's okay that they killed this kid. If you read my post, I said it was horrible. I'm just pointing out that racial injustice runs both ways, but it's treated differently by the press, et al.
If you read all of my exchange on that topic, I said it was horrible he was killed.
I agree. Weird rationalizations.
So there were 10 or so witnesses? Like, would they now be in their 70's or 80's? Let Emmett Till rest and let God take care of those varmin that killed him. We KNOW who did it and we KNOW they're dead. Let it rest.
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