Blunt racism at its core

This is why I miss Rhonda

No, I love you all. lol hug

Beyond the flag.

2freaky4church:

You are not kidding. That's evil at the core. I won't open the link because it is horrific. I saw a picture of him in his coffin in Jet magazine years ago, and it terrified me. All because he was accused of smiling at a white woman. I wonder if that woman ever felt any guilt, when Emmit was lynched by a gang of white males and his body thrown in the river. I believe Emmit's mother passed away before any justice was done. Not sure if anyone ever paid for the crime. Spike Lee was supposed to do a movie about his death, and I believe I heard rumors that they were supposed to be re-opening the case about 5 or 6 years ago. Don't know if it ever was reopened.
[Edited 8/23/08 19:51pm]

2elijah said:

His mother made some helluva statement when she demanded that the coffin should be opened ALL the time during his funeral.

If that isn't a remind of what AmeriKKKA is,,,,I sure as hell don't know what is.

2freaky4church:

You are not kidding. That's evil at the core. I won't open the link because it is horrific. I saw a picture of him in his coffin in Jet magazine years ago, and it terrified me. All because he was accused of smiling at a white woman. I wonder if that woman ever felt any guilt, when Emmit was lynched by a gang of white males and his body thrown in the river. I believe Emmit's mother passed away before any justice was done. Not sure if anyone ever paid for the crime. Spike Lee was supposed to do a movie about his death, and I believe I heard rumors that they were supposed to be re-opening the case about 5 or 6 years ago. Don't know if it ever was reopened.

He actually wolf whistled at her after repeated warnings not to. Of course no child EVER deserves what happened to him, but he was warned of the consequences.

The facts of what transpired in the store are still disputed, but according to one version, Till was dared by one of the other boys to say something to Mrs. Bryant, and so on his way out, Till said "bye baby" to her. One of the other boys ran outside to tell Till's cousin (who was outside playing checkers with an old man across the street) what happened. When the old man heard what happened, he urged the boys to leave quickly, fearing violence.

Carolyn Bryant told others of the events at the store, and the story spread quickly. When Bryant's husband returned from a road trip a few days later and was told about it, he was greatly angered. By that point, it seemed that everyone in Tallahatchie County had heard about the incident, which had several days to percolate. Different versions were disseminated. Till's cousin, Wheeler Parker, Jr., who was with him at the store, claims Till did nothing but whistle at the woman. "He loved pranks, he loved fun, he loved jokes... in Mississippi, people didn't think the same jokes were funny." Carolyn Bryant later asserted that Till had grabbed her at the waist and asked her for a date. She said the young man also used "unprintable" words. He had a slight stutter and some have conjectured that Carolyn might have misinterpreted what Till said.

purplesweat said:

sigh... Yeah, let's blame the victim.

2elijah said:

He actually wolf whistled at her after repeated warnings not to. Of course no child EVER deserves what happened to him, but he was warned of the consequences.

BartVanHemelen said:

Where the FUCK am I blaming him? Jesus...

I got that information from a documentary FEATURING Till's mother herself as well as others who were there when he whistled. He was told, warned repeatedly not to talk to or even look at white women and he disobeyed.

I'm not saying, nor would I EVER say that he deserved what happened to him, but sometimes rules are rules. Yes, he was just a child, but after all the warnings he should've known these people meant business...

It's very hard to express what I mean without sounding racist or like I agree with what happened. I DON'T. But he was warned for a REASON.

2elijah said:

He actually wolf whistled at her after repeated warnings not to. Of course no child EVER deserves what happened to him, but he was warned of the consequences.

I'd heard his family specifically asked that it be an open-casket funeral so everyone could see what had been done to him. That's true?

2elijah said:

He actually wolf whistled at her after repeated warnings not to. Of course no child EVER deserves what happened to him, but he was warned of the consequences.

purplesweat said:

You know, I do understand exactlly what you mean. and it was so unfortunate and sad that he died because of something like that. Those of us with compassion and a conscious knows whether he was warned or not, that these people that murdered him in cold blood, had absolutely no right to do that, regardless of their BS laws at the time. He was someone's son but they didn't give a damn because of the color of his skin, and those who murdered apparently didn't see him worthy of a human being. The scariest thing is that this happened less 55 years ago if I am correct.

There is absolutely no justification in that at all. That was the horrific side of Jim Crow and segregation laws along with denying someone their human rights to express themselves. He showed admiration for a female outside his race and was murdered for it, just because of the insecurities and jealousy of some people at that time, who actually believed they had the right to "own" human beings and control them. I'm sure everyone of those persons who were involved in that incident paid for that crime in some way in their lives. Even if it wasn't visible for the victim's family and close friends to see. I believe in what goes around will come around and I'm sure Karma came knocking at their door, but that's just my 2 cents.

This is why today, in this country, we have to speak out against these type of prejudices and make sure people with false beliefs that they are superior than others, never gain that kind of power again to deny another race their human rights, just because of their own insecurities, jealousy and fear of the unknown, whether it is because of someone's race, religion or gender.

Unfortunately we are still dealing with individuals today who are so hateful, because they have a problem with issues of either one or all of the three, and they will stop at nothing to demean people from various racial and religious backgrounds and project gender discrimination as well. We still have a lot of work to do.
[Edited 8/25/08 7:11am]

2elijah said:

.
There were laws against torture and murder on the books in the South and on the Federal level at the time.
There can't be a law so broad as to prohibit speech generally.
It wasn't the lack of law or legislation but the lack of enforcement.
There was also the perpetuation of ignorance to keep blacks from being aware of the law and using it as it was intended.

purplesweat said:

I have a problem with that phrasing. It suggests that he knew what would happen and did it anyway and thus suffered the consequences. I don't think or assume that's what you intended though.
Those who broke the law by torturing him and killing him suffered no consequences but they will face God.

2elijah said:

He actually wolf whistled at her after repeated warnings not to. Of course no child EVER deserves what happened to him, but he was warned of the consequences.

purplesweat said:

Nothing is worse than when people who know nothing type nonsense as if it was fact. First of all, Emmit wasn't whistling at the woman. He was a 13 year old brown skinned boy on a visit to the south. He whistled in part due to the fact that he had a speach impediment--he used to whistle to stop his studdering. That you would even say that he was "warned" of the consequences makes me ill. Do you even know what the "consequences" were that this adorable child was subjected to? They drilled his eyes out of his head, and drilled holes into his skull while he was alive. You sound like you believe it was justified and warranted because he was warned. His mother may have said he was warned to basically stay away from white people cuz they did shit for no reason, but she never said that little Emmit had a habit of whistling at women. I too was warned about the racist KKK folks in the south, and it is hard to head a warning you do not fully understand when you are thrust into a foreign environment with the scum of the earth. He was not warned of consequences...who the fuck would ever think such a graphic thing was possible. Wolf whistled? WTF....he was a little boy buying an item at a store.
[Edited 8/25/08 19:46pm]
[Edited 8/25/08 19:49pm]

BartVanHemelen said:

Where the FUCK am I blaming him? Jesus...

I got that information from a documentary FEATURING Till's mother herself as well as others who were there when he whistled. He was told, warned repeatedly not to talk to or even look at white women and he disobeyed.

I'm not saying, nor would I EVER say that he deserved what happened to him, but sometimes rules are rules. Yes, he was just a child, but after all the warnings he should've known these people meant business...

It's very hard to express what I mean without sounding racist or like I agree with what happened. I DON'T. But he was warned for a REASON.

He actually wolf whistled at her after repeated warnings not to. Of course no child EVER deserves what happened to him, but he was warned of the consequences.

Nothing is worse than when people who know nothing type nonsense as if it was fact.

That you would even say that he was "warned" of the consequences makes me ill.

Do you even know what the "consequences" were that this adorable child was subjected to? They drilled his eyes out of his head, and drilled holes into his skull while he was alive. You sound like you believe it was justified and warranted because he was warned.

His mother may have said he was warned to basically stay away from white people cuz they did shit for no reason, but she never said that little Emmett had a habit of whistling at women.

I too was warned about the racist KKK folks in the south, and it is hard to head a warning you do not fully understand when you are thrust into a foreign environment with the scum of the earth. He was not warned of consequences...who the fuck would ever think such a graphic thing was possible. Wolf whistled? WTF....he was a little boy buying an item at a store. If that happens tomorrow, and it very well could, would you even hint that a 13 year old should have known better?

And by the way...that picture the link leads to is the cleaned up version of what they did to him. His tongue was pulled out and his eyes were hanging on threads. His mother was upset that it was repaired as much as it had been.

"better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and prove it"