Till

 

 

Sharon and I saw “Till” at our local theater today. It’s a very powerful movie, and I’d be surprised if Danielle Deadwyler, who portrayed Emmett Till’s mother, does not get an Oscar nomination for her performance.

You’re probably familiar with the story, but here is a quick synopsis:

Mamie Till became an educator and activist in the Civil Rights Movement after the death of her 14-year-old son, Emmett, who, in 1955, was beaten severely and shot dead,, then thrown into the Talahachee river with a 75lb cotton gin fan tied around his neck by way of barbwired fencing by white supremacists for whistling at a white woman, while visiting his cousins in Money, Mississippi Mamie Till insisted that the casket containing her son's body be left open to let the world see what they had done to him. The film is told entirely from her perspective. Emmett Till's murder is heard, but not shown in the film.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Till

Mamie Till’s participation in civil rights after her son’s murder eventually resulted in the Civil Rights Act of 1957, despite Strom Thurman’s filibuster of 24 hours and 18 minutes, which is the longest filibuster on record. Thurman served a record 48 years in Congress, and he finally retired at the age of 100 in 2003.

Until 1964, the Democrats, not the Republicans, were the crazy party. In 1964,  Thurman switched parties ahead of the 1964 United States presidential election, saying that the Democratic Party no longer represented people like him, and endorsed Republican nominee Barry Goldwater, who also opposed the Civil Rights Act. By the 1970s, Thurman started to moderate his stance on race, but continued to defend his prior support for segregation on the basis of states' rights and Southern society at the time.

Nixon’s Southern Strategy of 1968 got him elected in 1968, and the South has largely been in the hands of the Republican Party every since.

Since the Civil Rights Act of 1957 did not go far enough, it was replaced in 1964 by another Civil Rights, which was supplemented in 1965 by the Voting Rights Act. Thurmond voted against all of them.

Despite having a limited impact on African-American voter participation, the Civil Rights Act of 1957 did establish the United States Commission on Civil Rights and the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. Congress would later pass far more effective civil rights laws in the form of the Civil Rights Act of 1960, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Civil Rights Act of 1968.

The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress since the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The bill was passed by the 85th United States Congress and signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on September 9, 1957.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1957

Here is the trailer for the movie:

TILL | Official Trailer | MGM Studios - YouTube

Legislation against lynching has been proposed by Congress hundreds of times over the last 100 years, but it was not until 2022 that an anti-lynching bill (titled the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Bill) was passed by Congress.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Till_Antilynching_Act

Both of the murderers of Emmett Till (Roy Bryant and J.W. Milan) were acquitted by an all-white jury, in part because Bryant’s wife lied on the witness stand. Both men have subsequently died from cancer, but Carolyn Bryant is still alive today, and recently expressed regret for her part in the travesty.

In my opinion, this film should be shown in every classroom in America – but it won’t be. As you know, the belief that critical race theory is being taught in our schools is absolute bullshit. Critical race theory is a college level course that examined the role that systematic racism has had on our society. However, because FOX “news” mentioned the term more than 2000 times in 2021, it became a rallying cry for the conservatives of American – and it helped Glenn Youngkin get elected as governor of Virginia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Youngkin

 After his inauguration, Youngkin signed eleven executive actions, including a ban on critical race theory and rescinding COVID-19 regulations.

I wrote about Emmett Till’s murder more than a decade ago, but because I used the “n’” word in the title, I would risk being fired by the Tucson School District if I mentioned the word in class – and that is actually a good thing.

https://tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2011/02/niggers.html

Included in the article listed above is a video that Bob Dylan released about the murder – and it is worth listening to.

The Death of Emmett Till - YouTube

By the way, Natalie Cole’ duet with her later father will bring a lump to your throat.

Just like the movie “Selma” a few years back, “Till” will not be allocated very many show times – and that’s a shame. I’m a very believer in the fact that students today should be taught ACTUAL history, and not the sanitized version that is popular with conservatives today. There’s not a lot that most of us can do to fight bigotry today, but there IS one thing than you can do.

See the movie.