Emmett Till Essay

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A very prevalent phenomenon in today’s day and age is racism. Racism is made up of the beliefs, actions and behavior of people in society towards one another, which is, in turn, based on a racial hierarchy. Its effect is moreover taken as targeting an entire community in an offensive way. On a personal note I’d like to add; whenever I travel abroad I can remember instances when I am being called out or referred to as “Arab” or “Paki”. It definitely does not feel very good, and I fail to imagine what it was like for a young African-American boy named Emmett Till, who was born and brought up in America during the mid-twentieth century, when black people were still struggling with their rights.
On the 25th of July 1941, Emmett Till was born to Mamie Carthan and Louis Till in the windy city of Chicago. His parents had separated after a year of his birth in 1942, when his mother found out that his father had been cheating on her. Emmett grew up in Chicago, where he was raised by his mother. Unfortunately, he had contracted polio when he was six years of age. They were residing in Chicago’s South Side, a busy neighborhood where they had relatives living just a stones throw away. Emmett was nicknamed “Bobo” by his family and friends. After the separation, Emmett and his mother had moved to Detroit in 1951. Over there, Mamie was seeing a man named Pink Bradley and decided to marry him that year. Emmett always enjoyed living in Chicago, which is why he moved back there and lived with his grandmother until his mother returned with her new husband. Their marriage broke off in 1952, after which Pink Bradley moved back to Detroit. Emmett’s mother started working as a civilian clerk for the United States Air Force. Emmett was a little distract...

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...ou don’t speak unless you are spoken to.
And you say, “Yes Sir, yes M’am,” when you are.
I already do that.
I know how to be polite.
I’m not talking about that!
If a white woman even approaches, you got to move off the sidewalk.
You serious?
I’m very serious.
YOU
DO
NOT
LOOK
AT
THEM” (654).
The story of Emmett Till has moved the entire nation not because it was an attack on an individual but an entire community because this case was an important event to spark up the Civil Rights Movement. Even though, the African-American people continue to live with the fear of injustice, anger, frustration as well as racism measures have been made and some are still in the process. But, once a principle is set it is seldom possible to revert and as stated once by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”, it remains true.

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