If you look at the news footage of the story of Emmett Till, it’s all in black and white. Till was a 14-year-old African American boy from Chicago, who was beaten, shot, and found floating in the Tallahatchie River in Mississippi back in 1955. All this for whistling at a white woman. Two men were eventually tried for his murder and acquitted by an all white jury.
Many are now applauding an announcement by the Justice Department this week, to retry the case. But others are wondering what can be gained when the main suspects are dead, and everyone’s memories are hazy. Prosecuting the past in the case of Emmett Till. Is it still to be seen in black and white?
Guests:
Christopher Benson, author of “Death of Innocence: The Story of the Hate Crime That Changed America”
Revered Wheeler Parker, Emmett Till’s cousin, who was with him the night he was murdered
Douglas Jones, an attorney who recently won convictions in the 1963 Birmingham bombing case.