The Department of Justice is reopening the investigation into the murder of Emmett Till. Till was abducted and killed in August 1955 by two white men for allegedly making an inappropriate remark to a white woman. The case is considered one of the most vicious examples of racism in America and marked a turning point in the nation’s attitude toward racial injustice when Till’s mother, Mamie Till , allowed his mutilated body to be viewed in an open coffin at his funeral.
“This one really caught me off-guard, and it’s caught a lot of people off guard,” says, Dr. Ray Winbush, Director of the Institute for Urban Research at Morgan State .
. “If we believe what Dr. King says about the arc of the moral universe, sometimes, it’s short…sometimes, it’s long. His mother has died, and he died at 14, but justice is still due.”
Two white men were acquitted of killing Till and later confessed to having committed the crime. Both are now dead.
According to a report the Justice Department submitted to Congress in March, the decision to revisit the case was “based upon the discovery of new information.” In what is believed to be her only interview, the woman whose allegations led to Till’s death spoke with a Duke University professor who wrote the book “The Blood of Emmett Till” released in 2017. Carolyn Bryant Donham told the author that what she alleged about the 14-year-old grabbing her and conducting himself in a sexually crude manner toward her “that part is not true.”
Rev. Dr. William Barber, social justice activist and national co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, says, “63 years ago, Emmett Till was snatched from his mother by the human predators of white supremacy. He was killed brutally by some who were connected to the supposed law enforcement in Mississippi. If there is any new evidence to bring forth full justice and penalties for the crimes, the case should be reopened.”
Donham has remained hidden from public view for decades, and at this point, she is in her eighties. Dr. Winbush says, “If the punishment points to Donham, I think she should be punished.”
As the news circulated of a reopened investigation, skeptics questioned the timing and the motives of the DOJ with Attorney General Jeff Sessions at the helm.
“I think there’s an attempt by the Trump administration to win African Americans’ votes,” says Dr. Winbush. “They’re talking about pardoning Marcus Garvey and posthumously pardoned Jack Johnson . Those three figures are deeply embedded in our community. I think there is more going on here than meets the eye, and it’s ironic that it’s happening under one of the most racist presidents in recent memory.”
