Washington:
President Joe Biden will designate a new national monument on Tuesday to commemorate the brutal lynching of Emmett Till in the 1950s, with the White House framing the symbolic act as part of a fight against resurgent racism.
The memorial, which has been placed in several locations, commemorates the 14-year-old black boy who was tortured and killed by white men in 1955 after he allegedly whistled at the wife of a white shopkeeper in Mississippi.
His mother Mamie Till-Mobley, also honored in the memorial, became an activist and is widely regarded as the initiator of the American civil rights movement.
“The new memorial will protect places that tell the story of Emmett Till’s too-short life and racially motivated murder, the unjust acquittal of his killers, and the activism of his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, who courageously drew the world’s attention to the brutal injustice and racism of the time, which was a catalyst for the civil rights movement,” the White House said.
The memorial signing by Biden — on the 82nd anniversary of Till’s birth — will designate three historic sites in Illinois and Mississippi.
One of them will be the Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in Chicago, where Till’s mother, at her son’s funeral, insisted that the coffin be left open so that a huge crowd could see the boy’s disfigured body.
Another will be the Tallahatchie, Mississippi courthouse, where an all-white jury found the men charged with Till’s murder innocent. They would later confess to the crime.
The third location is the spot on Mississippi’s Tallahatchie River where Till’s battered body was eventually discovered. Signs commemorating the brutal event there and at other locations in Tallahatchie County have been repeatedly defaced and vandalized over the years.
Biden’s high-profile treatment of a painful piece of 20th century American history comes against the backdrop of allegations that a leading Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential race is openly inciting racist sentiments.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has filed suit to minimize the history of past racism in his state’s school curriculum, making it part of a wider campaign against what he describes as the “virus” of “awakened” leftist values.
In response to an outcry over what has been described as an attempt to rewrite history, DeSantis doubled down last week and said slavery even had benefits.
“They’re probably going to show that some of the people who end up being, you know, a blacksmith are going to do things later in life,” DeSantis said Friday.
Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary, described DeSantis’ comment as “inaccurate” and “offensive.”
“It’s hurtful and prevents a fair account, an honest account of our country’s history,” she said.
Jean-Pierre, who is black, said the Emmett Till memorial was part of “the broader story of American black oppression, their survival.”
“It’s an important moment. You will hear directly from the president tomorrow,” she said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)
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