• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • New York
  • Latin
  • Culture
  • Magazine
  • Things To Do in NYC
  • Travel
  • Subscribe
  • Sponsor
New York Latin Culture Magazine®

New York Latin Culture Magazine®

World-class Indigenous, European & African Culture since 2012

  • Art
  • Books
  • Dance
  • Fashion
  • Festivals
  • Film
  • Food
  • Music
  • Sports
  • Theatre

Remember the Mothers of Emmett Till and So Many Others

Emmett Till was a 14-year old boy from Chicago who was lynched by Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam in Money, Mississippi on August 28, 1955.

Bryant and Milam accused Till of doing things that no Black person would do in the Jim Crow South. Nothing justifies what was done to the child.

His mother Mamie Till courageously insisted on an open casket at his funeral so people could see what Bryant and Milam had done. News photographs of his body in the casket shocked America with their brutality.

In September 1955, an all-white Mississippi jury found Bryant and Milam not guilty of kidnapping and murder. In 1956, the two admitted to the killing in an interview with “Look” magazine.

Bob Dylan singing his song “The Death of Emmett Till” in 1962

The whole thing is sickening. And sadly, things haven’t really changed that much. Black men and people of color are still being killed for nothing and the killers (often police) are getting away with it.

Say their names, but not just the names of the dead. Say the names of the killers so their families will never forget either.

  • Emmett Till, age 14, killed by Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam in Money, Mississippi on August 28, 1955
  • Trayvon Martin, age 17, killed by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida, 2012
  • Eric Garner killed by NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo in New York City, 2014 – “I can’t breathe”
  • Michael Brown killed by police officer Darren Wilson, Ferguson, Missouri, 2014
  • Tamir Rice, age 12, killed by police officer Timothy Loehmann in Cleveland, Ohio, 2014
  • Walter Scott killed by police officer Michael Slager in North Charleston, South Carolina, 2015
  • Alton Sterling killed by police officers Howie Lake II and Blane Salamoni in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 2016
  • Philando Castile killed by police officer Jeronimo Yanez in St. Paul, Minnesota, 2016
  • Stephon Clark killed by police officers Terrence Mercadal and Jared Robinet in Sacramento, California, 2018 – Shot 7 times for holding his mobile phone
  • Breonna Taylor killed by police officers Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove in Louisville, Kentucky, 2020 – Shot 8 times after being woken up while sleeping in her own home
  • George Floyd killed by police officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2020 – “I can’t breathe”
  • Jacob Blake, shot 7 times for leaning into his car by police officer Rusten Sheskey in Kenosha, Wisconsin, 2020

This is just some of the violence. There’s more that is swept behind the Blue Line or never photographed. What kind of people are we? It needs to stop, now.

If all of us folks that thinks alike, if we gave all we could give,
We could make this great land of ours a greater place to live.”

Bob Dylan, “The Death of Emmett Till,” 1962

We can’t continue building this list because it makes us feel sick to our stomach how this is allowed to happen and then allowed to go unpunished. All we can say is we shall overcome…

usa


Published October 3, 2022 | Updated February 15, 2023.

Filed Under: LATIN FESTIVALS, Legends

Primary Sidebar

Colombian Salsa

Pablo Mayor Folklore Urbano NYC "El Barrio Project" (courtesy)

The Pablo Mayor Folklore Urbano Orchestra Plays Colombian Salsa for Uptown Nights at Harlem Stage

RISE Theatre Directory

Find your next project. Discover your next team. Do it on RISE. Find your next project. Discover your next team. Do it on RISE.

Things to Do in NYC

Things to do in NYC in September 2023

Things to do in NYC in October 2023

Things to do in NYC in November 2023

Things to do in NYC in December 2023

Footer

Search

Sponsor

New York City's leading cultural organizations sponsor New York Latin Culture Magazine™

Subscribe

Subscribe to New York Latin Culture Magazine's weekly email.

Follow

New York

Manhattan, The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island

Latin

Art, Books, Comedy, Dance, Fashion, Food, Festivals, Film, Music, Parades, Theatre, Sports

North American

African American, Belizian, Costa Rican, French Canadian, Guatemalan, Honduran, Indigenous, Jewish, Mexican, Nicaraguan, Panamanian, Salvadoran

Caribbean

Antiguan, Bahamanian, Barbadian, Cuban, Dominica, Dominican, Grenadian, Haitian, Indigenous, Jamaican, Jewish, Puerto Rican, Kittitian Nevisian, Saint Lucian, Trinidadian, Vincentian

South American

Argentine, Bolivian, Brazilian, Chilean, Colombian, Costa Rican, Ecuadorian, Guyanese, Indigenous, Jewish, Paraguayan, Peruvian Surinamese, Uruguayan, Venezuelan

European

French, Italian, Jewish, Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian

African

African American, Senegalese, Gambian, Bissau-Guinean, Sierra Leonean, Liberian, Ivorian, Ghanaian, Togolese, Beninese, Nigerian, Equatoguinean, São Toméan, Gabonese, Congolese, Angolan

Asian

Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Jewish, Romani

Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Cookies Policy

Copyright © 2012–2023 New York Latin Culture Magazine®. All Rights Reserved. New York Latin Culture Magazine® and Tango Beat® are registered trademarks, and New York Latin Culture™ is a trademark of Keith Widyolar. Other marks are the property of their respective holders.