Joe Biden
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden will designate a new national monument honoring the cruel hanging of Emmett Till in the 1950s, with the White House portraying the symbolic move as part of a fight against rising racism.
The monument, which will be located in numerous sites, will honor the 14-year-old Black boy who was tortured and murdered tortured and murdered by white men in Mississippi in 1955 after allegedly whistling at a white shopkeeper’s wife.
Mamie Till-Mobley, who is also commemorated in the memorial, became an activist and is often credited with sparking the US civil rights movement.
The White House stated, “The new monument will protect places that tell the story of Emmett Till’s too-short life and racially-motivated murder, the unjust acquittal of his murderers, and the activism of his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, who courageously brought the world’s attention to the brutal injustices and racism of the time, catalyzing the civil rights movement”.
On the 82nd anniversary of Till’s birth, Biden will sign a memorial bill designating three historic locations in Illinois and Mississippi.
One of them will be the Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in Chicago, where Till’s mother insisted on the casket remaining open at her son’s funeral, allowing a large throng to see the boy’s disfigured body.
Another will be the courthouse in Tallahatchie, Mississippi where an all-white jury found the men accused of murdering Till not guilty. They would later confess to the crime.
The third location will be the spot on the Mississippi’s Tallahatchie River where Till’s beaten body was eventually discovered. Signs commemorating the heinous occurrence there and elsewhere in Tallahatchie County have been regularly damaged and vandalized throughout the years.
Biden’s high-profile handling of a sad chapter in US history is taking place against the backdrop of allegations that a leading Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election is actively inciting racial views.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has led an effort to diminish the legacy of previous racism in his state’s school curriculum, as part of a larger push against what he calls the virus of woke left-wing ideas.
In response to outrage over what has been regarded as an attempt to rewrite history, DeSantis doubled down last week, claiming that slavery even had benefits.
On Friday, DeSantis stated, “They’re probably going to show that some of the folks that eventually parlayed, you know, being a blacksmith into doing things later in life”.
DeSantis’s remark, according to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was inaccurate and insulting.
“It’s hurtful and prevents an honest account, an honest account of our nation’s history”, she explained.
The Emmett Till memorial, according to Jean-Pierre, is part of the broader story of American Black oppression, their survival.
“It’s an important moment. You’re going to hear directly from the president tomorrow”, she promised.
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