July 23rd 2023.
On Tuesday, July 25, President Joe Biden is expected to establish a national monument honoring Emmett and Mamie Till, as reported by NBC News. Emmett Till's brutal murder in Mississippi in 1955 is seen as the event that sparked the Civil Rights movement. His mother's insistence on an open casket funeral made sure that no one could look away from what happened to her son.
The official announcement regarding the monument's creation has not been made yet, but a White House official has shared that it will be called the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument and will comprise three sites in Illinois and Mississippi. The timing of the monument is especially significant as it will be established on the birthday of Emmett Till in 1941.
The monument will protect places central to the story of Till’s life and tragic death, as well as his mother’s activism which included the open casket funeral. Jet Magazine published the now-famous photos of Till’s body lying in the casket, his young face deformed beyond recognition by a cotton gin.
The plans for the memorial come at a time when conservatives are trying to rewrite history. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently signed legislation that allows teachers to say that slaves benefited from being taught skills by their captors. Vice President Kamala Harris responded to this development in a recent speech in Jacksonville: “How is it that anyone could suggest that in the midst of these atrocities that there was any benefit to being subjected to this level of dehumanization?”
The Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument will include Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in Bronzeville, a historically Black neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side where thousands gathered to mourn Till’s death; Graball Landing, where Till’s body is believed to have been pulled out of the Tallahatchie River; and the Tallahatchie County Second District Court where Till’s murderers were acquitted by an all-white jury just a month after Till’s death.
The monument is being established as a response to the 2020 murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis Police Department and a wave of backlash against diversity, inclusion, and equity practices that followed. Unfortunately, many companies have been engaging in “diversity theater”, that is, creating DEI positions for optics sake instead of any real commitment to the tenets of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Amy Hull, director of DEI at Paycor, has commented on the matter: “If they weren’t invested for the right reasons to start when they created these positions and hiring, and it was more for optics, it’s of no surprise that they are removing these positions when no one is apparently watching.”
The establishment of the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument honors the memory of Emmett Till and his mother's activism and will protect these places for future generations to learn from.
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