Kerriana Moore Emmett Till was a young boy, about 14 years old. He was the type of son every mother prayed to have. He cooked, he cleaned, he built, he did bills – all without being asked to. He was well known around the town he grew up in and made a positive impression on everyone he came in contact with. Emmett Till was deeply loved by all of his family and friends. This precious and innocent life was taken away from him all too soon. Killed as the result of a hate crime, Emmett’s death caused an uproar in not only the African-American community, but the nation as a whole. His death would set off the Civil Rights Movement as his mother, Mrs. Mobley Till, would make sure the world knew who her son was and what happened to him.
On August 28, 1955, Mrs. Mobley Till got the call that no mother wants to hear. She and her son lived in Chicago and after days of being persuaded by her son, Mrs. Mobley Till reluctantly allowed her son to visit family in Mississippi. Three days later her son, Emmett, had been found dead in the Tallahatchie River in Mississippi. There were so many different accounts as to what happened the afternoon leading up to his death, but it is believed that he had whistled at a white woman. Her husband, Roy Bryan and his brother J.W. Milam, proceeded to kidnap Emmett the following night where they brutally beat and murdered Emmett before tying him down with a gin fan and dumping him in the river. The two men had been arrested and would be put on trial. The funeral service for Emmett would be one that would never be forgotten. When Emmett’s body was originally found, it was so disfigured that he was unrecognizable besides the fact that he was wearing a ring with his father’s initials in them. Although she was encouraged not to do so, Mamie (Mrs. Mobley Till), demanded to see her son and identify that it was her son. She examined him from head-to-toe, seeing how badly and brutally her son had been murdered. The individuals running the funeral had planned for it to be a closed-casket one but after seeing her son, Mamie knew something had to be done. Ever since she had heard the news about Emmett, Mamie hadn’t really allowed herself to grieve. She had been taking notes on what had happened, making sure that she would be able to give as much detail about her son’s murder to reporters. She decided that this would be open-casket funeral. She wanted the world to know and see what those two white men had done to her baby boy. Over the next few days, thousands of people would come to see the body of her son. Mamie decided that she would go to Mississippi for the trial. In her own words, she told reporters that she was ready to dedicate her life to making sure that what happened to her son would never happen to anyone else. A major force in the whole trial was the NAACP. They had tried to set out a case for the federal government and Mamie was beginning to see why it was vital for the NAACP to make that plea in Washington. This case was more than just about Emmett’s death, it was about the fight for racial equality and black rights. The role that media played – especially television – in covering the civil rights struggle would be one that was profoundly historical. The trial of Emmett Till’s death would be referred to as “the first great media event of the civil rights movement.” A photo of Emmett’s body was taken at the funeral and it surfaced everywhere, including being featured on the cover of Time Magazine. The intensity of the civil rights struggle would increase with the coverage of the trial of Emmett’s death. Another important aspect of the murder trial was the coverage of it by black reporters. They were a unique source of information, taking great risks to find out what happened to Emmett and making sure that everyone knew what happened to him. “It was as if they wanted to find the truth for the sake of the truth itself, for the sake of justice.” These reporters would prove throughout the trial that they were not only great journalists, but they were also advocates. Advocates for justice. Although what happened to Emmett was cruel and a tragedy, it sparked hope in people. They were angry, excited, and felt a call to action in ways they hadn’t been before. Adam Clayton Powell, a New York Congressman, called for an economic boycott of everything in Mississippi. Demands for an end to racial segregation, black voting rights, and anti-lynching legislation were made by people across the nation. In the end, the two men on trial for Emmett’s murder were determined to be “not guilty.” This caused a lot of uproar – it was evident that they had committed the crime. But it was no surprise either. Even though it was not the verdict she had hoped for, Mamie knew there would have one important difference if she had not done anything about Emmett’s death. If she had not done or said anything about his death, no one would have known about it, and no one else would have felt a call to action because of it. Emmett was a unifying symbol and his name and story would be spoken at numerous fund-raisers, rallies, and even congressional hearings. Following the death of her son, Mamie decided to go back to school. She knew she wanted to become a teacher and did just that. In 1973, she formed a group known as the Emmett Till Players. She worked with a group of students from her school and they would travel the country, performing before thousands of people, including the family of Martin Luther King, Jr. Through the years, other people would see the importance and significance of Emmett’s death. A documentary known as Eyes on the Prize, was an acclaimed documentary that focused on the development of the civil rights movement with events surrounding Emmett’s death starting the film off. In the summer of 1999, a play called The State of Mississippi v. Emmett Till was created and shown in theatres, displaying the life of Emmett Till and his murder. Not only did Emmett inspire activism, he inspired art as well. Poems were written by Langston Hughes and Gwendolyn Brooks. Emmett’s death would inspire others for years. As a result of Emmett’s death, other people began to feel inspired to take a stand. One of these people was a woman named Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat to a white man on the bus. Another individual, Martin Luther King, Jr. was a young activist who invoked hope into the hearts of many across America through his actions and his dedication to change. People throughout the nation were motivated to push for change. In 1957, Congress passed a civil rights act, the first to be passed since Reconstruction. Along the way, there would be many sacrifices. Even today, we as a nation and as a black community are following in the footsteps of Mamie, taking a stand and fighting for our long deserved freedom and justice. Mamie stated, “…so many people would look back at Emmett as the first. Indeed, they would point to my son…as the sacrificial lamb of the civil rights movement.” She was right. The sorrow of his death was leading others to have hope for a better future.
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By: Kerriana Moore This was a very informational session. There was fairly good size of participants here. At first, it was set up so that all the approaches were done by one person at the front of the room. I believe that when they noticed they weren’t getting much crowd participation, they decided to switch it up. We split up into small groups with about two moderators at each table. There were about 5 participants at my table.
When we split up into smaller groups, you could immediately see the difference! It was a more comfortable setting and people started to open up. The first approach we discussed was the government’s role in lessening college tuition. What it came down to was as one participate put it, “What are we willing to sacrifice?” We suggested possibly having higher taxes or taking money from other areas such as Defense and Medicaid. We suggested these two areas because while they are definitely important, they receive lots of money that could be used to help students and it most likely wouldn’t hurt them. The second approach my group discussed was what students and families can do. A big aspect of this is scholarships. We talked about how we could’ve applied for more scholarships – but it was senior year. We had just finished applying and getting accepted into schools, getting through senioritis and we weren’t really worried about the cost of school once second semester of senior year came. So we came up with the idea about scholarship applications being released during our junior year when things aren’t quite as hectic yet. On the subject of AP courses, one participant suggested state schools having the same criteria for what they accept as scores on these tests because they vary from one school to the next. This way, we can know if spending the $90 to take a test is really worth it. The last approach my group covered was what the university can do to help. One way that we discussed was schools reducing the number of General Education requirements. A lot of times, the gen eds we take aren’t even things that can help us in our major. By taking these classes, we just spend unnecessary money and it might even take longer to graduate. We also came up with alternatives such as colleges being more lenient with the credits they accept from community colleges and AP classes, considering that everyone may not be able to afford college for four years. I brought up the fact that I had received a scholarship to Penn State based on merit and was blessed to receive this but knew that this was not the case for many other students. College is expensive and definitely a burden, especially for out of state students. I can’t recall their names, but our moderators were great! It was obvious that they were knowledgeable about this subject and that’s something every moderator should be. In the end, we concluded that although college is pricey, we are always grateful for the opportunity to obtain an education at such a great school. Kerriana Moore Although I only attended a couple of deliberations other than mine, this one was probably my favorite. It was a pretty packed event and the groups were large. Mine was fairly decent sixed, about 7 people. Before we separated into our groups, Jessica gave a good intro that got us thinking about what we might want to say. The structure of the event would be one of the deliberators going through each option and then the small groups going more into depth on the topic and coming up with ways to combat it.
Although sexual assault is very touchy subject, our moderators, Jessica and Alex, made it very comfortable so that the other participants and I were open about the subject. The first approach my group and I discussed was alcohol. We agreed that alcohol was definitely a big factor in the culture of rape and sexual assault on college campuses. One thing we discussed was that it’s good to always have a buddy system when you’re going out and know that drinking is going to be involved. Having a sober friend is always good to monitor the others who may be drinking. We also talked about how it’s important for us to monitor what we drink and how much, and to be cautious if accepting an open drink. In terms of the University taking a stand, we suggested them being stricter and actually enforce punishment to those who commit these crimes. Although we agreed alcohol was a factor in sexual assault, we also pointed out that it doesn’t lessen the crime. Sexual assault is still sexual assault regardless of the factors behind it. The second approach my group discussed was about help available to sexual assault victims. One suggestion that was pretty funny but could actually work was incorporating golf carts into safe walk. We all agreed that it would be weird to have someone walking and following behind you late at night and depending on the situation, we might not feel like it or be in the best shape to walk all the way back to our rooms. With a golf cart, we wouldn’t have to walk, it wouldn’t be as awkward because it’s just someone driving us home, and they’re easy to store/manage. Increased staff for safe walk is something that is also needed. Another suggestion we came up with was to have more blue lights. On other campuses, there’s literally a blue light everywhere you walk. There’s MAYBE four on Penn State, which is definitely not enough. The last approach we went over is bystander intervention. Many times, we as bystanders are hesitant to intervene in situations where we might witness sexual assault because we tend to think, “It’s not my business.” However, my group came up with ways to intervene. We talked about making code words or phrases such as “Your mom is here!” or “The pizza man is waiting for you at the door.” We also talked about how bartenders can help, by recognizing that someone may be in need of help and educating them on the warning signs of what may be sexual assault and what to do. One thing I learned to help myself become a better moderator was to really listen to the participants. When they see that you’re paying attention to them and listening, they’re more open to giving their opinions. This is something I thought Jessica did very well! This deliberation was very informative and I feel like I can make a difference in helping to prevent sexual assault from happening. By: Kerriana Moore In my freshman year of high school, I truly learned about the history of African Americans and slavery in my intro to U.S. History course – or at least I thought I did. I believed that all of the horrific things done to African Americans was long gone and in the past. I mean, it was history right? In the books, The New Jim Crow and Between the World and Me, authors Michelle Alexander and Ta-Nehisi Coates, respectively, discuss how the inhumane treatment towards African Americans is not something of the past, but a problem that still exists today. Through new laws and systems, African Americans still are not freed individuals. Racism is still existent.
America seems to have progressed in many ways. Compared to the 1960s, America looks great. America elected its first African American president in 2008 and there are also prominent African American figures in society such as Oprah Winfrey and Al Sharpton. What more could black people want? Although it looks as if America has moved past slavery and discrimination towards African Americans, that is simply not the case. African Americans have become enslaved into a new racial caste known as the “New Jim Crow”: mass incarceration. As Alexander describes in her book, mass incarceration is the web of laws, rules, policies, and customs that control those labeled as criminals both in and out of prison. “It is the most damaging manifestation of the backlash against the Civil Rights Movement.” This New Jim Crow, of course, is disproportionate to African Americans, especially men. If this current system continues, 1 out of every 3 young black men will be imprisoned. But why is mass incarceration known as the “New” Jim Crow? What was the original Jim Crow? The original Jim Crow, enacted between the late 1800s to mid 1900s, were a set of anti-black laws that enforced racial segregation. Some of these laws would include things such as segregated educational facilities, segregated transportation, and barriers to voting such as the grandfather clause. The old Jim Crow compared to the new Jim Crow is similar in the fact that they both legalized discrimination, had segregation of neighborhoods by race, and that there were laws set in place to hold African Americans back. After hearing a brief overview of what the new Jim Crow is and the system of mass incarceration, one would think that there would be outrage over this issue. However, a major difference between the old and the new Jim Crow is that there is not as much anger and activism towards the new Jim Crow as there was towards the old Jim Crow. There are a couple reasons for this but the biggest, and also another difference between the old and new Jim Crow, is that racism in a sense is now more “hidden.” During the years when the old Jim Crow was being enacted, racism was very outward and violence was clearly seen. White people weren’t afraid to call African Americans “niggers” nor were they secretive in their hatred of them by trying to hold them back. Today, America has become less overt in portraying their racism towards African Americans and to the point that many people think racism doesn’t even exist anymore. Another reason for the lack of outrage towards this new Jim Crow is denial. Even though the evidence and facts are clear, many Americans ignorantly choose to believe that this is a reality for many African Americans, especially males. As Alexander puts it, “The colorblind public consensus that prevails in America today – i.e., the widespread belief that race no longer matters – has blinded us to the realities of race in our society and facilitated the emergence of a new caste system.” The rise of the new Jim Crow came about with the rise of the War on Drugs. When most people hear about the War on Drugs, they assume that this was an effort to combat the crack cocaine crisis happening in inner city neighborhoods. People believed that rapid increase in the prison population and that the racial disparities in drug convictions were simply nothing more than the government’s effort to combat drug crimes in poor, minority neighborhoods. Well that was simply not the case. In 1982, it was announced by President Ronald Raegan that there was a current drug war before there was even a problem in poor black neighborhoods or before it was in the hands of the media. Following this within the next few years, crack cocaine started to rapidly spread throughout poor black neighborhoods across the country. The media fueled this War on Drugs to become an actual war through stories about “crack whores” and “crack babies.” Interestingly enough, illegal drug use was declining when the War on Drugs occurred, causing a scary increase in the arrests and convictions of people, especially of color. The impact that the War on Drugs has had is astonishing. According to Alexander, in less than thirty years, the U.S. penal population exploded from around 300,000 to more than 2 million, with drug convictions accounting for the majority of the increase. When convicted of these crimes, offenders can spend years in prison. As a solution to mass incarceration, many people have suggested shorter sentences. But as Alexander makes clear, the mass incarceration system isn’t based on the prison time, but on the prison label. As long as prison cells are dominated by African Americans and as long as they are arrested and known as drug criminals, African Americans will continue to be “relegated to a permanent second-class status upon their release, no matter how much (or how little) time they spent behind bars. When an individual is released from prison, most of these felons are no longer allowed to vote or can obtain public housing. It’s also hard to find jobs and they are not eligible for things such as food stamps. With barriers such as these, it’s near impossible to live a normal life once released from prison. As the old Jim Crow had done, the new Jim Crow takes away any real rights of citizenship that African Americans have. Alexander mentions throughout her book that it was not written in effort to solve the problem of mass incarceration, but more so to enlighten America on what is actually happening with our current justice system and also a number of things that need to change: profiling of law enforcement, public awareness of the issue at hand, and the prison/jail system. In his book, Coates talks of his own experience with the new Jim Crow. He talks about his rough upbringing in the hoods of Baltimore. Coates recalls his father being hard on him as a child but he never quite understood why until he had a little boy himself. Being black, and especially being a black male, meant that he couldn’t do everything his other friends could. He had to be twice as good. Twice as good to get half of what they have. As a young man, Coates attended Howard University, where he learned about the history of his people and how wrong his previous understandings of it had been. While a student at Howard, one of Coates’ classmates, Prince Jones, had been killed by a police officer, similar to that of Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, and others. Following this event, Coates began to truly see how much the black body was not valued in America. The history of the destruction of the black body did not just come from slavery but from the Jim Crow laws, racial profiling, the Civil War, and the hopes of “The Dream.” Coates describes this dream as living the good life. If you work hard, you’ll get what you work for. But as soon as something uncomfortable is brought to the table (such as racism), heads are turned, people believing that they are not really racist. They think that anything they have obtained is because of their work, not the fact that they’re white. This book was a letter written to Coates’ son. He reminds him that by being black, he will always have to struggle more than everyone else and have to be “twice as good.” Even though Coates and his son grew up during two different time periods and went through different experiences being black, one thing remains the same: the lack of care and value for the black body. While the subjects of Alexander and Coates’ books were two completely different things, they both tie back to one common theme: resist to African American success. The Jim Crow laws of the 1890s were created in order to hold back African American success and now, colorblindness and the idea of white supremacy too, continues to attempt to hold African Americans back. Through the system of mass incarceration, racial profiling, and police brutality, America ensures African Americans that they will always be one step below everyone else, that they are not valued, and that they do not deserve to be successful. But it doesn’t have to be this way forever for African Americans. We indeed have come a long way, but have even further to go. The goal is that we have to be better. We have to be twice as good. Sources Alexander, Michelle. New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Place of Publication Not Identified: New, 2016. Print. Coates, Ta-Nehisi. Between the World and Me. Warterville, ME: Thorndike, a Part of Gale Cengage Learning, 2016. Print. |
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