Sixty-seven years ago today, 14-year old Emmett Louis Till was abducted, tortured, and lynched in Mississippi after being accused of offending a white woman, Carolyn Bryant, in her family's grocery store. The brutality of his murder and the fact that his killers were acquitted drew attention to the long history of violent persecution of African Americans in the United States.
Someone famous once wrote "Mississippi Goddamn". Thank you Miss Simone.
Ironically, I'm just finishing Isabel Wilkinson's masterpiece, " The Warmth of Other Suns",
a historical non fiction narrative fucking masterpiece of the great Black migration from 1900-1970.
I did my graduate work on the initial Black migration from 1876-1920. Her work is magnificent, she won the Pulitzer, she's young her second book, "Caste" finally helped me understand why that traitorous, Nazi motherfucker got 73 million votes in 2020.
As I blather on, the story on Mrs. Till and her courage in demanding an open casket for her son will arrive later this year in theaters. It's called, "Till".
Finally that fucking cunt Bryant, FINALLY admitted last year she made up the story.
To add salt to the wound a Mississippi grand jury refused to indict her for filing a false police report.
Even though I am one, I fucking hate white people.
Yes. Nina Simone brilliantly implored us to act against injustice, and I hope for our survival that we're still listening and willing to fight. Save the Arts and save quality education in this country!
That is far and near in time as far as I’m concerned.
TC wrote, ‘Sixty-seven years ago today 14-year old Emmett Louis Till was abducted, tortured, and lynched in Mississippi after being accused of offending a white woman…’
Today is also the story of Trump-Republican Fascists turning the truth and words upside-down, where good like freedom, equality, justice, fairness, the free-press, public health, free and fair elections, Biden, Garland, Pelosi and Fauci are ‘the enemies of the people.
TC, calls upon us to see.
"The open-coffin funeral held by Mamie Till Bradley exposed the world to more than her son Emmett Till's bloated, mutilated body. Her decision focused attention on not only U.S. racism and the barbarism of lynching but also the limitations and vulnerabilities of American democracy".
TC, shows and tells in this history lesson.
'The Emmett Till Antilynching Act, an American law which makes lynching a federal hate crime, washttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-0vClQa1Hw&list=RDM-0vClQa1Hw&start_radio=1 signed ihttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-0vClQa1Hw&list=RDM-0vClQa1Hw&start_radio=1nto law on March 29, 2022 by President Joe Biden.'
Today’s story from TC is about seeing, telling and acting. It worked for me.
What Bryant and Milan did to Emmett Till was illegal then and would today be referred to in other countries as an "extra-judicial killing" - murder remains murder.
The bill that was signed by President Biden was first introduced as H.R. 11279 in 1918 by Leonidas Dyer, a St. Louis Republican and was actually passed by the House in 1922 but was filibustered in the Senate by Southern Democrats who argued, among other things, that lynching was a necessary response to rapes and that the states should be allowed to deal with the issue locally.
I shiver at anything that says now “the states should be allowed to deal with the issue locally”. That was a 1922 statement and here it is again in 2022.
Collective sorrow.
TC is right about Mississippi. And such a beautiful state. Bigotry and hate and caste is preserved there more than nature.
In many ways, things haven’t changed in 67 years. Ahmaud Arbery was stalked and murdered only two years ago. The local authorities swept it under the rug, Justice was only done because three white men were so cocky and so stupid, they posted the video.
Thank you, Fern. And for others, this famous tune can be found on YouTube or any streaming music service. Here I get to brag.... For a couple of years in the early 90's I went to the NOLA Jazz Fest.
I was damn lucky to see Miss Simone about ten years before she died. Classic, regal, take no prisoners til the end. Continuing off topic ( sorry Tom, that's what you get for hanging with me), there is a wonderful documentary on Netflix, called "What Happened Miss Simone?". I can't recommend it highly enough. Unfortunately the doc appeared the same year a doc on Amy Winehouse did. Nina lost the Oscar to Amy ( A very good film). See this movie. Oh and hi, Fern hope all is well!😸
TC, Did you see news about celebration of him in small town in France?
Lt. John Gilmore, Jr., an American fighter pilot who made the ultimate sacrifice while saving the lives of locals and helping liberate the country near the end of World War II.
He's not the only one - that happens throughout France - mostly northern France since it generally involves guys shot down in the Battle of Normandy and the following Battle of France through the summer of 1944.
Thank you, TC. Your response has stayed with me as encouragement to know more and a reminder of my vacuity in this area. These wandering eyes still leave me almost empty in many places.
The fall before Covid hit I traveled with a friend to DC. Our itinerary included a visit to the National Museum of Africa American History and Culture. It was eye opening. I had never learned of the Tulsa Maasacre, had never heard of The Negro Motorist Green Book, and had only the most vague idea of who Emmett Till was. It was a quiet day at the museum, yet the line for the Emmett Till exhibit stretched around the building. I suspect my experience parallels that of many of my white generation. The very idea that that rethuglicans wish to return to those policies of “Disneyfying” history sickens me. Instead I’d suggest every school child, and perhaps the J6 DC jailbirds, should tour the museum. It would be impossible to exit without being incredibly moved and shaken by our history.
Such a desperately horrific act of barbarism.
One in an almost endless list of barbaric acts our species has perpetuated. It is a baked in feature that we need to evolve out of.
Someone famous once wrote "Mississippi Goddamn". Thank you Miss Simone.
Ironically, I'm just finishing Isabel Wilkinson's masterpiece, " The Warmth of Other Suns",
a historical non fiction narrative fucking masterpiece of the great Black migration from 1900-1970.
I did my graduate work on the initial Black migration from 1876-1920. Her work is magnificent, she won the Pulitzer, she's young her second book, "Caste" finally helped me understand why that traitorous, Nazi motherfucker got 73 million votes in 2020.
As I blather on, the story on Mrs. Till and her courage in demanding an open casket for her son will arrive later this year in theaters. It's called, "Till".
Finally that fucking cunt Bryant, FINALLY admitted last year she made up the story.
To add salt to the wound a Mississippi grand jury refused to indict her for filing a false police report.
Even though I am one, I fucking hate white people.
Yes. Nina Simone brilliantly implored us to act against injustice, and I hope for our survival that we're still listening and willing to fight. Save the Arts and save quality education in this country!
Judy, I hope that you are ok that I added Miss Simone's voice
to your rich comment and a poem by Langston Hughes.
Mississippi—1955 (1955)
by Langston Hughes
(To the Memory of Emmett Till)
Oh what sorrow!
oh, what pity!
Oh, what pain
That tears and blood
Should mix like rain
And terror come again
To Mississippi.
Come again?
Where has terror been?
On vacation? Up North?
In some other section
Of the nation,
Lying low, unpublicized?
Masked—with only
Jaundiced eyes
Showing through the mask?
Oh, what sorrow,
Pity, pain,
That tears and blood
Should mix like rain
In Mississippi!
And terror, fetid hot,
Yet clammy cold
Remain.
******
Nina Simone - Mississippi Goddam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBiAtwQZnHs
'SIXTY-SEVEN YEARS AGO...'
That is far and near in time as far as I’m concerned.
TC wrote, ‘Sixty-seven years ago today 14-year old Emmett Louis Till was abducted, tortured, and lynched in Mississippi after being accused of offending a white woman…’
Today is also the story of Trump-Republican Fascists turning the truth and words upside-down, where good like freedom, equality, justice, fairness, the free-press, public health, free and fair elections, Biden, Garland, Pelosi and Fauci are ‘the enemies of the people.
TC, calls upon us to see.
"The open-coffin funeral held by Mamie Till Bradley exposed the world to more than her son Emmett Till's bloated, mutilated body. Her decision focused attention on not only U.S. racism and the barbarism of lynching but also the limitations and vulnerabilities of American democracy".
TC, shows and tells in this history lesson.
'The Emmett Till Antilynching Act, an American law which makes lynching a federal hate crime, washttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-0vClQa1Hw&list=RDM-0vClQa1Hw&start_radio=1 signed ihttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-0vClQa1Hw&list=RDM-0vClQa1Hw&start_radio=1nto law on March 29, 2022 by President Joe Biden.'
Today’s story from TC is about seeing, telling and acting. It worked for me.
And it took until this year to make lynching illegal. Surprised the Retrumpers in Congress let that pass.
What Bryant and Milan did to Emmett Till was illegal then and would today be referred to in other countries as an "extra-judicial killing" - murder remains murder.
The bill that was signed by President Biden was first introduced as H.R. 11279 in 1918 by Leonidas Dyer, a St. Louis Republican and was actually passed by the House in 1922 but was filibustered in the Senate by Southern Democrats who argued, among other things, that lynching was a necessary response to rapes and that the states should be allowed to deal with the issue locally.
I shiver at anything that says now “the states should be allowed to deal with the issue locally”. That was a 1922 statement and here it is again in 2022.
Collective sorrow.
TC is right about Mississippi. And such a beautiful state. Bigotry and hate and caste is preserved there more than nature.
Salud, Brother Dave. 🗽
Salud Sister; this too will pass.
❤️
In many ways, things haven’t changed in 67 years. Ahmaud Arbery was stalked and murdered only two years ago. The local authorities swept it under the rug, Justice was only done because three white men were so cocky and so stupid, they posted the video.
Thank you, Fern. And for others, this famous tune can be found on YouTube or any streaming music service. Here I get to brag.... For a couple of years in the early 90's I went to the NOLA Jazz Fest.
I was damn lucky to see Miss Simone about ten years before she died. Classic, regal, take no prisoners til the end. Continuing off topic ( sorry Tom, that's what you get for hanging with me), there is a wonderful documentary on Netflix, called "What Happened Miss Simone?". I can't recommend it highly enough. Unfortunately the doc appeared the same year a doc on Amy Winehouse did. Nina lost the Oscar to Amy ( A very good film). See this movie. Oh and hi, Fern hope all is well!😸
Your excursions off-topic always lead to interesting destinations, Judes.
Welcome to my mind. It ain't pretty but fucking interesting. Thanks, Tom
🌿Hand to heart, Judy.🌻
Unfortunately, such violent, torturous and deadly propensities still take place today in this country.
TC, Did you see news about celebration of him in small town in France?
Lt. John Gilmore, Jr., an American fighter pilot who made the ultimate sacrifice while saving the lives of locals and helping liberate the country near the end of World War II.
355th Fighter Group, 358th Fighter Squadron
Born November 14, 1920
Death August 28, 1944
Cause Hostile, Killed in Action
Location France
Awarded ★ Purple Heart
He's not the only one - that happens throughout France - mostly northern France since it generally involves guys shot down in the Battle of Normandy and the following Battle of France through the summer of 1944.
Thank you, TC. Your response has stayed with me as encouragement to know more and a reminder of my vacuity in this area. These wandering eyes still leave me almost empty in many places.
Mark's company B was also celebrated in France. He attended the ceremony. I kept records of it -- another effort in the coming days - bientot!
The fall before Covid hit I traveled with a friend to DC. Our itinerary included a visit to the National Museum of Africa American History and Culture. It was eye opening. I had never learned of the Tulsa Maasacre, had never heard of The Negro Motorist Green Book, and had only the most vague idea of who Emmett Till was. It was a quiet day at the museum, yet the line for the Emmett Till exhibit stretched around the building. I suspect my experience parallels that of many of my white generation. The very idea that that rethuglicans wish to return to those policies of “Disneyfying” history sickens me. Instead I’d suggest every school child, and perhaps the J6 DC jailbirds, should tour the museum. It would be impossible to exit without being incredibly moved and shaken by our history.