Emmett Till, innocent African American teenager visiting his great uncle, falsely accused; goes home in a crate to his mother. George Floyd, innocent African American man shopping at a store, falsely accused; never makes it back home to his family. There is a sixty-five-year difference between these crimes, that should never have taken place. Neither one of them thought to put anyone in danger but they were killed wrongfully. This article is geared towards the general public to realize there is not a big difference between what happened to Emmett Till over sixty-five years ago, and what happened to George Floyd three years ago. Brutal killings are still taking place in the United States and has not come to an end. Both incidents took place because some people are racist and have hate towards those of a different race. I want to focus on how Civil Rights of African American males have changed with the evolution of equal rights, from collection of evidence from the crime scene, trial of defendants, and outcome.
*Outcome refers to whether justice was served to the family of the victim.
Many have heard of the tragic death of Emmett Till. Till was only fourteen years old when he was brutally beaten and killed. Not only was he a teenager but from the Northern States where segregation did not reside. Till was from Chicago, Illinois, where people were more excepting of his race. Chicago was much different than Money, Mississippi in 1955. Till did not know the dangers of the South, that his mother shielded him from as a young African American boy. He did not know the ends and outs of segregation in the South until it was to late. Emmett would die due to false accusations of him whistling and grabbing at a white woman, named Carolyn Bryant. On August 28th, 1955, Emmett was kidnapped from his great uncles’ house brutally murdered by a group of white men. According to reports, Till was beaten brutally, shot in the head. After killing him Roy Bryant along with his half-brother, J.W Milam, tied a barbed wire around Till’s neck and connected it to a Cotton Gin fan. They wanted to ensure his body would sink to the bottom of the Tallahatchie River at Graball Landing. After Emmett was found, it was difficult for him to be identified by how badly he was beaten. The only way he could really be identified is by his late fathers’ ring he wore on his finger. Mamie Till, Emmett’s mother, could not believe what was done to her son’s body, and she wanted the world to witness what Roy and Milam had done to her son.
At Till’s funeral the casket would remain open. September 15th, 1955, JET magazine (Johnson 1955, 58-59) would let the United States take a view of what was done to Emmett Till’s body. White magazines would not dare showcase Till’s body. Mamie demanded that his photographs were spread to bring awareness of how segregation and Jim Crow took her son away from her, and the NAACP, along with black owned newspapers, and magazines made sure this happened. Media during 1955 was very limited for African American to share important information. Often there was no acknowledgement of lynching that took place in Southern states, and they were often brushed off. Sadly, the trial did not end with justice served. Roy Bryant and J.W Milam were taken to trial in account to Emmett’s death. Till’s great uncle testified stating that the two white men were in fact who came to kidnap Emmett. Even with these details, the all-white jury found the two men not guilty of Emmett till’s murder. Many years later Roy would admit to torturing and killing Emmett but due to double jeopardy nothing could be done about it. Also, Carolyn Bryant would admit years later that Emmett did nothing to her. Not until 2022, was something done about this terrible hate crime. On March 29th, 2022, President Joe Biden passed a law stating that lynching is now a federal hate crime, in honor of Emmett and his mother Mamie. Although this law was passed justice was never truly served to Emmett’s family for his death, due to his killers not spending time in jail.
65 years later May 35th, 2020, George Perry Floyd Jr, would lose his life to police brutality. According to sources, Floyd was accused of using a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill to purchase cigarettes. Shortly after this the police were called and arrived at the store. By the time the police were called Floyd was in his vehicle. The police asked Floyd to step out of his vehicle. After several times asking Floyd to step out of the car, Floyd decided to do so. Before he could stand up, soon as he opened the door, Officer Thomas Lane pulled his gun out and pointed it at Floyd, demanding him to put his hand up, as he is pulled from his vehicle. They never explained to Floyd the reason for arresting him. In the police report, it did state that Floyd was medically stressed. Even though this was recognized they attempted to put Floyd in the back of a police car. Floyd states how he is claustrophobic. When Floyd resists sitting in the back of the patrol car, he says that he will lie on the ground. At this point things make a dramatic change. As Floyd is put on the ground, he is pinned under three officers by the names of, Derik Chauvin, J. Alexander Keung, and Thomas Lane. Lane held Floyd’s legs down while Keung was kneeling on his upper legs and holding down his wrist, and Chauvin had his knee on Floyd’s neck. There was another officer on the scene by the name of Tou Thao. Thao wanted to keep all bystanders away from the scene, but that could not keep them from recording what was happening to Floyd.
Floyd let the officers know that he could not breathe. Chauvin continued to keep his knee on Floyd’s neck. He continued to keep his knee on Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes. Officers checked for a pulse on Floyd after four minutes and there was no pulse. Bystanders asked Chauvin, why would he continue to keep his knee there if Floyd was unresponsive. Minutes after Floyd was picked up by the ambulance, he was pronounced dead. Due to evidence supporting what had taken place the officers that were involved would be fired and tried for the killing of Floyd. At trial Chauvin would be found guilty of second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter and sentenced to twenty-two and a half years in prison. Chauvin did not take care of Floyd as he was trained to do. Lane was sentenced to three years for not following through with making sure Floyd’s rights were given and aiding in the attack. Keung was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for not following constitutional rights of Floyd. Lastly Thao was sentenced to four years and nine months for helping with the manslaughter of Floyd and by standing while his fellow officers disrespected Floyd. Floyd’s family did see that justice was served in the end, but they stated how they can never get George Floyd back, a father, grandfather, brother, and son.
Civil Rights are the rights given to citizens from the time they are born, for equal opportunities and protection under the law no matter the race, religion, or gender. The issue of Civil Rights being held up for every race, religion, or gender, has been a problem for decades, especially for African Americans. Emmett suffered and justice was not served to his family due to a failure to uphold Civil Rights starting at the scene of his murder. As read, Till’s body was found at Graball Landing, a part of Tallahatchie River. When his body was found they took a look at it and only identified Till by a ring he was wearing which was father’s. No actual autopsy ever took place until fifty years after Till’s death. If no autopsy was done, there was no way to rule out exactly who his killers were. Bryant and Milam were both convicted of murder but they both claimed they did not kill Till, and they let him go. Even with the testification from Moses Wright, Till’s uncle, the court did believe they did not kill Till. That easy Bryant and Milam were let go. Nothing further was done. George Floyd’s killers would go to jail for the crimes they took place in for not holding up Civil Rights of Floyd. Also not only did they have the witness of by standers but also videos. No where during Till’s trial was Civil Rights taken into consideration because they only believed Till was in the wrong for whistling, which years later, we would find out, it never took place. George Floyd’s family got to see the ones who killed Floyd be put away.
The outcome of Emmett Till’s case is nerve racking to many because it took over fifty years for Carolyn Bryant to admit to many that Till never did anything other than smile. For years she claimed of this bothering her, of what her late husband did to Till. This has led to many to wonder what else probably took place during Till’s murder. His family will never forget what happened, the last time they saw Till alive. Floyds outcome took a better turn in the eyes of the courts. Floyd’s family can sleep knowing his killers are put away. Media was broadcasted around the world when Floyd was killed to let people know Black Lives Matter. Murals, protests, and funding was put together to support the standing of equal Civil Rights in the United States, in the court room, and out.
As we look back Civil Rights in court for African American males have made a change since the murder and trial of Emmett Till took place. We can not say there are not things that could still change or make better. Police brutality is a issue of todays Civil Rights. Jim Crow and segregation was a problem of Civil Right during the 1950s. There are some similarities between Emmett and Floyd, which are they did not want to cause anyone harm, they had a family to go home to, and they were both killed by racist individuals, with the mindset to kill others. There differences would have to be how trial took place upon the evidence given. Emmett’s trial had little to no liable evidence, compared to Floyd’s case which was full of evidence. Another difference is their outcome where Till’s case did not receive justice and Floyd’s did. Civil Rights injustice did not stop with Floyd, but still rises on other occasions.
Further Reading Into Other Cases like Emmett and George
How to Cite This Article
Shayla Raiford, “What the Similarities and Differences Reveal about What Has Changed since 1955,”Digital History at USC Aiken,2023,https://wordpress.com/post/digitalhistoryusca.com/1793
Your reading was a great read and it is a good thing that in todays world there is equality across America in the courts. I do think their are situations though that have termed “police brutality” when the occupant or “victim” was not complying. It would be interesting to see why some of these instances get thrown in with the cases you mention, when they are not the same.
LikeLiked by 1 person