Emmett Till Rhetorical Analysis

Dear John Wideman,
The picture of Emmett Till’s brutalized body haunts me every day of my life.I was ten in the 5th grade when my teacher decided to show the class a film that showcased all the events leading up to the civil rights movements.The film talked about the case by only using images from his funeral .When Emmett Till’s body popped up on the screen The thought of a body that was once youthful was brutalized and turned into a what now looks like a monster.Maybe to the oppressor, Emmett Till and people alike will always be monsters.What do you think Emmett Till’s body symbolized for the generations of black people whose lives were put on hold because of the fear of their life being taken at any minute?Just Five years after his

death began the civil rights movement.Do you think injustices like Emmett Till gave this movement ammunition or was this another way to let African Americans know that they should stand down? His body made me feel as though I was worthless.Emmett Till isn’t my brother or cousin but he can be.It could be my brother or cousin that’s next to go today, tomorrow or next week.America sees black lives as unimportant.They had to convince themselves that this Fourteen-year-old child was a threat, therefore his life is invalid.What about this that makes other Americans feel as though that our lives are invalid but theirs valid?Don’t we all bleed? ”Denial is more acceptable to the majority of Americans than placing themselves, their inherited dominance, at risk.” Looking At Emmett Till has been one of the most difficult essays I’ve come across in a long time.With every few pages, I found myself taking small emotional breaks.At certain points, I was on the verge of tears.When you wrote“Emmett Till’s murder was an attempt to slay entire generation.Push us backward to the bad old days when our lives seemed to not belong to us”.I Thought that maybe each year when another black kid dies it’s to send a message to us.To make us feel like our lives are disposable.Today police brutality and hate crimes are in the media more than ever before.That doesn’t mean that hate crimes and police brutality has ever stopped.The historical roots of the continuing mistrust between law enforcement and the black community have been detrimental for us for decades. Thinking about the amount of black men, women, and children that died at the hands of police officers and other civilians with no repercussions is beyond me.It seems as if there isn’t any hope for any of us.If we cannot feel protected with the people whose job is to keep us safe then who are we to trust.The year this essay was published was the year I was born.Eighteen years later and there are still young black men and women bodies being raped, brutalized, beaten and killed in large numbers.Did you think the mutilation of black bodies would still be happening today in 2013?2014?2015?what about 2016? Or 2017? Or 201…..
Throughout the story, I noticed that you did was insert yourself into the narrative.You jumped back and forth from your story to Emmett Till’s story eventually combining the two.You wrote “I liked to brag.Take on dares like him.Okay.Okay, Emmett Till.You so bad. You talking ‘bout all those white gals you got up in Chicago. Bet you won't say boo to that white lady in the store.”That technique helped me get a better sense of how patriarchy worked within society during that time.If it was a group of white boys who talked about dating black girls and they would have whistled at a black woman in the store it would have been fine.People would have characterized it as boys being boys.How come it’s not the same when black boys do it?It makes it clear that black people not only aren’t good enough to even be in the same place as a white person but it illustrates how much less they thought of black people.Laws like jim crow during that time clearly demonstrates the racial divide that we had in America.
The way you structured your sentences was in a way that the facts slapped you in the face.You stated ”Demonized by hot-blooded or cold-blooded statistics of crime, addiction, disease, cartooned, minstrelized, criminalized, eroticized, commodified in stereotypical representations, the black body kidnapped and displayed by the media loses all vestiges of humanity” With each word we were forced to face the facts of the institutionalization and normalization of not only the unjust killings of black people in America,but the commercialization of the way society wants us to exist.The idea that you could’ve easily been Emmet Till, made me feel like you were trying to get that Emmett Till could've been any black boy in the south during that time.”Martin Luther Till.Malcolm Till.Medgar Till.Jesse Till. Your daddy Till….”The list never ends. It probably won’t ever end.
Before moving onto your next idea you would always leave the reader at a point where usually any other writer would expand on their idea but you don’t.You quickly change the setting or sequence of the narrative once you made an important point.Why is that?

Is it for us as the reader to question what you meant.Was it meant for us to think about it and to make our own judgment? Or is it a point where as the audience should reflect on these huge statements you make.In the text, you stated that “Now there seems to be in our ritual of mourning for our dying children no sense of communal, general loss, no larger empowering vision.We don’t connect our immediate trails-drugs, gang violence, empty schools, empty minds, empty homes, empty values to the ongoing historical struggle to liberate ourselves from the oppressive legacies of slavery and apartheid.”This bold statement that talks about how we as the black community need to find new ways to emancipate ourselves by looking at our losses and gain control of our needs.Usually with statements like that the writer would offer a solutions or feelings but afterward you go right back to telling Emmett Till’s story.
Your writing style allowed for me to think about the story of Emmett Till in ways in which I didn’t think was imaginable.The way you merged fiction and nonfiction probably wouldn’t have work if this was another story.Because of the simple fact that we could make up a story about how a black person would get killed by a police officer tomorrow and tomorrow it would most likely happen.It may not be the story that is real but the reality of

it.

Thank-you,
Kariah Scott