I always saw the story of Emmett Till's murder as the epitome of all Reconstruction's shortcomings. While Southern industry made strong moves to catch up with the Northern economy, it did so by reasserting white supremacy over society. What is worse is that the federal government, wrapped up in economic woes, westward expansion, and imperialistic development, did nothing to protect the civil rights of African Americans.
Till's story also brings us full circle, in the sense that it raises the issue of freedom, and the way that it applies to modern America. In the 19th century, it was clear that freedom was not an absolute right awarded to all Americans because of the number of bodies that were deemed as property by the federal government. By 1955, the year of Till's murder, one would think that freedom would expand to all those protected by the 14th Amendment. But it did not. Till's violated body, that his mother insisted upon showing to the world, displays the degree to which black Americans were still not given the freedom that Reconstruction policies had promised them.
As we leave this unit behind us, we must consider what freedom actually is. While slavery is over, the ability of the federal government to grant equal rights to all citizens seems to be a continuing battle. The government's conception of freedom will change in our next unit to the idea of economic equality and what happens when capitalism is in crisis.
So why should we mourn Emmett? In what ways does his death demonstrate the degree to which the federal government conceptualizes natural rights by the mid 20th century? What went wrong?
Overall, I think that we still mourn Emmett because he symbolizes that fact that the government can set up a bunch of laws but they can never really protect someone from harm. The whole situation is completely immoral and the article even states “no matter what long bloody trail led to Emmett’s death, the boy’s body annihilates the white racist panic of miscegenation, and in a moment of shattering silence the southern lie, the chivalrous storytelling ceases to exit.” I thought that this article was really hard to read because it was so sad and a very striking example of how the law cannot protect you from still being discriminated against. What went wrong was that reconstruction was not the great idea that maybe some people thought it was and it happened at the wrong place at the wrong time.
ReplyDeleteWe should mourn Emmett because what happened to him was very important. Even after the 13th 14th and 15th amendments were made African Amercians were still not treated correctly. Emmetts case shows that black people did not receive any rights as soon as those amendments were made, and nothing really changed. What happened to Emmett was very sad and ruthless. People still mourn his case today because of how awful the crime was. I agree with Meghan when she says that reconstruction was not the greatest idea and that some people thought it happened at the wrong place at the wrong time. People all had their own opinions about what went wrong with reconstruction but I think that the timing was wrong and it might have worked at a different time.
ReplyDeleteWe should and do mourn emmet and what was done to him because it shows us how people still do not treat African Americans the same way as they would treat a white person. Even after so many amendments were passed people didn't change their opinions about eachother and then white men did something that was so sick a twisted. People still mourn his case because it shows just how messed up people can be, and how no matter what our government did and the amendments they passed.. People can still be so sick and horrifying and inhumane. Overall reconstruction did not work at all because it didnt change people and it definitely should have come at a different time.
ReplyDeleteAs Tina said, even after the war was over, even after the amendments that were written to treat the Black community as equal as every other community. I believe that Americans should mourn Emmett because he was literally the symbol of all the murders that the South above all, did of black innocent people. He was discriminated and killed without reason, just because of his skin color.
ReplyDeleteReconstruction was not done at the right time and it was a failure above all because the Black race did not end up being respected as it had had to be.
yes Emmett Till was just a ordinary innocent person that did nothing wrong and killed. Like everyone has said, he was killed after the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. So it was very clear that people still felt the same way and have not changed. This just proves that reconstruction was not successful because trying to fix the south and get rid of this racism was not what happened. But instead people still feel the same way and doing just as bad as they were doing before.
ReplyDeleteWe should definitely mourn Emmett Till's death because it shows the horrors of being black in the South. A fourteen-year-old boy was taken from his house in the middle of the night, beaten mercilessly throughout the night, and was shot in the head. His attackers gouged one of his eyes out, used barbed wire to weigh his body down with a cotton gin fan, and then dumped his body in the river. A week later, his mother was called in to identify his unrecognizably puffy and destroyed face. This whole thing showed that in the South, blacks truly were not free. It showed that even innocent little children were subject to the atrocities of racism. It showed that the federal government needed to do more to improve these circumstances and bring justice for the victims of this racism, like Emmett Till.
ReplyDeleteEmmett Till, a fourteen year old boy beaten to the point where his face was almost unrecognizable. He was an innocent child, ripped from his mothers arms and tortured, rape, and thrown in a river like a piece of trash. I don't think the question is whether we should read this article but more like, how could we not read this article? This article portrayed the pain and suffering caused by racesim, it shows both sides the mothers and the sons. It shows the suffering, and the fear that grew with people even after the Emancipation Proclamation and after the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. It is not until an article like this that one truly understands the level of disgusting and unstoppable crime the African Americans faced. It is not until an article like this that one can truly understand how the whites hated the African Americans, how they would even resort to abusing a FOURTEEN year old boy to prove their point. They were messed up, they wouldn't give up even after losing. The scary part is that these kind of people still exist today, the KKK still exists today. We have made much progress from them, but we are far from the end of that process.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of people just automatically mourn Emmett. There doesn't need a reason, he just turned out to be the unlucky which represents the symbol of the failure of the government on creating equality between races. His case shows the federal government's laws and Amendments do not give the equal right of what it actually says in the law. Even some people do not mourn Emmett, I think they should. The more people do mourn Emmett, less people today will show their racism towards Blacks because they are afraid getting criticized by everyone, so the new born children don't grow up under the influence of racism and I believe that the concept of racism will disappear one day.
ReplyDeleteWhat went wrong was how much effort the government put into enforcing the equal rights of slaves. If the government had advocated the safety and sense of community in integrated black and white areas, somebody would have stood up for Emmett and his cousins, or spoken to Roy Bryant before he did something rash. There were several witnesses to Emmett Till's murder (or course, most are dead now), and those of them that were white could've tried to calm Mr. Bryant. Of course, a black bystander could've done the same, but it wouldn't've had as much of an affect as a white man's words. Or even if the police cared enough to take a black man's word seriously (I know that they don't take black people seriously from watching Raisin in the Sun), one of Emmett's cousins or a bystander could've reported the incident to the police. OR (hypothetically) a passing police officer could've apprehended the situation instead of turning a cheek. If any of these things happened, hate crimes and violence like Emmett Till's could've been avoided. We should still mourn Emmett because racism and black-hate is still relevant in today's world. Although the government is more accepting and caring about black citizens than they were in the 50s and in slave times, it doesn't mean that individual people's opinions are dispelled or that they keep those opinions silent. There are still many hate crimes that happen every day, derogatory comments made every day, racial slurs spoken every day, and violence often started over race.
ReplyDelete*What went wrong was how much effort the government put into enforcing the equal rights of blacks.
Delete*of course, most are dead
Today, we mourn Emmett because his death symbolizes racism in America because this articles shows how laws and amendment can be almost superficial. Even when 14th Amendment was issued, which officially abolished slavery, African Americans, which Emmett represents, are not able to be treated fairly. and I personally think that the fact that Emmett was a innocent Fourteen years old child in some degree makes people mourn because in today's perspective, most people see Racism as evils and see blacks and whites as equals. Plus, instead of having the African American treated better, Organizations like KKK aroused as a reaction to the 13th, 14th and the 15th Amendment.
ReplyDeleteJust as Tina said, these events took place AFTER the 13, the 14 and the 15th amendments were passed. We do and should mourn Emmett Till's death because the story of his death represents every person that was killed for their race. Had he been white, this story would not even exist. This story really makes the views of the South a reality and emphasizes that no matter what laws the government passes, white men could literally get away with murder and die from old age without ever facing the consequences for such an atrocious act. The reason why the government could not control the South is because the people passing the laws and the southerners were two completely different types of people who saw things in completely different light.
ReplyDeleteThe story of emmet till is important to mention because it shows how the government can't do anything to change the standing ideology. Just ending slavery doesn't by any means make everyone equal. Just because everyone is free in the eyes of federal law the same doesn't stand true for the general population. This issue can't be settled through government policies. It is a problem within the nation that the people need to solve or grow out of on their own which they do with the help of obviously notable figures. Nothing really went wrong. The government did what they could on their part and from there it was just a matter of the problem solving itself with time. Just because the president says that everyone should be acting a certain way doesn't mean the small town white sheriff is going to listen to him.
ReplyDeleteWe should mourn Emmett Till, and all others who died in the same way at the hands of racist Southerners, because when he died he was no longer just an innocent boy. He became a symbol of the egregious racial attacks in our country. When his Uncle had to identify him, he thought "No this is not Emmett. This is murder. This is hate. This is evil. This body I am looking at in this boat is not my nephew." The only evidence left of the boy's past existence was the ring on his finger. It was not just his disfigurement that changed him into an idea. It was the injustice that the perpetrators were never reprimanded, and felt in the bottom of their hearts that they were not at fault when they tortured and killed this innocent boy. It was the thousands of people who went to see Emmett's open casket and spread his pictures throughout the nation to bring awareness to such atrocities. These are the reasons why we must still mourn Emmett and all that he stood for.
ReplyDeleteThe death of Emmett Till shows the failure on protecting the people's freedom. The Civil War, these amendments and the reconstruction could not help to gain total freedom for people, from all races and give people better lives. The ultimate solution would still be time. I was not surprised at all that this would happen to Till. People are adjusting to this new era after the war. Some might like the changes, some might not. There will always be some rebels that look at the society with negative views. This racial and freedom issue can only healed with time but not rapid changes. These changes can only bring damages and violence.
ReplyDeleteyou should mourn emmett hill because the life of such a young man was brutally and horrendously taken from him. the women was twenty one and married while the boy was just fourteen the odds of any actual sexual activity accruing are almost zero. this shows how the government desperately needed to create laws and protect not only black peoples rights but everyones. white people had been slaughtering black males for years and getting away with. this was the first test of the government that had been set in place.
ReplyDelete