Timothy B. Tyson

4.5 stars

A painful, but important look at US history while asking ourselves "how much has really changed?"

Before going into this book, I had familiarity with the basics of the Emmett Till case, his horrific murder, and the gross miscarriage of justice after his death. Tyson's work provides much more detail about Till's family, the murderers' families, the impact of Till's death on the civil rights movement, and the reactions of other countries to the Till case.

Listening to the book on audio, the book got a bit muddled in the middle as Tyson explained all the various civil rights leaders working throughout the country. I had a hard time keeping the names straight (this might have been easier had I read the text instead of listening to it). The final chapters -- where Tyson offers his analysis vs. a litany of names, dates, and places -- are exceptional.

Make no mistake -- this book will stir thoughts and emotions that will not settle easily. Fourteen year-old Emmett Till was brutally beaten and murdered because he had the "audacity" to whistle at a white woman. In 1955 Mississippi, acquittal for the defendants was a foregone conclusion (part of the defense was that Till "had it coming"). Once acquitted and out of danger of double jeapordy, the defendants -- Milam and Bryant -- spoke quite openly about the murder. Although one would wish that the sentiments in their chilling remarks be relegated to history, it is wise to listen and be aware that sadly, these views continue to exist today:

"Outside Bryant’s grocery, the youths dared Till to ask Carolyn Bryant for a date. He did so. Hearing the tale, Milam and Bryant kidnapped the boy from his great-uncle’s farmhouse intending meerly to beat him, but Till taunted them …and proclaimed his own equality…

‘We were never able to scare him,’ Milam [admitted]. ‘They had just filled him so full of that poison he was hopeless.’

The men took turns smashing Till across the head with their 45s. The boy never yelled, but continued to say things like ‘You bastards, I’m not afraid of you. I’m as good as you are. My grandmother was a white woman.’

Milam made their case, ‘Well, what else could we do? It was hopeless. I’m no bully. I never hurt a ni**er. I like ni**ers – in their place. I know how to work ‘em. But I just decided it was time a few people got put on notice. As long as I live and can do anything about it, ni**ers are gonna stay in their place. Ni**ers ain’t gonna vote where I live -- if they did they’d control the government. They ain’t gonna go to school with my kids. And when a ni**er even gets close to mentioning sex with a white woman, he’s tired of livin’. I’m likely to kill him. Me and my folks fought for this country and we’ve got some rights. G-damn you, I’m gonna make an example of you, so everybody knows where me and my folks stand.’”… (more)

I don't even know where to begin. The USA has come so far since 1955. But over the course of the past year, all the deaths, pain, hurt, protests, legislation have seemed to be for naught. We have a leader who yearns for the time so deftly described in this book. I am embarrassed for our country, for how our government and its citizens treated African-Americans in our past. And to a lesser extent, today.

This country owes a tremendous debt to Miss Mamie. For if she had not decided to let the world ”see what they did", I truly believe the Civil Rights Movement in this country would never have progressed as quickly as it did, although, not quickly enough IMHO.

I implore everyone to read this book.… (more)

A must read. Any review of mine could never do this book justice, so here is a quote from the book itself:

We are still killing black youth because we have not yet killed white supremacy. As a political program white supremacy avers that white people have a right to rule. That is obviously morally unacceptable, and few of its devotees will speak its name. But that enfeebled faith is not nearly so insidious and lethal as its robust, covert and often unconscious cousin: the assumption that God has created humanity in a hierarchy of moral, cultural and intellectual worth, with lighter-skinned people at the top and darker-skinned people at the bottom...

To see beyond the ghosts, all of us must develop the moral vision and political will to crush white supremacy — both the political program and the concealed assumptions. We have to come to grips with our own history — not only genocide, slavery, exploitation and systems of oppression, but also the legacies of those who resisted and fought back and still fight back. We must find what Dr. King called the “strength to love.” New social movements must confront head-on the racial chasm in American life. “Not everything that is faced can be changed,” Baldwin instructs, “but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

You can read a longer excerpt in the Atlanta Journal Constitution: http://specials.myajc.com/emmett-till/… (more)