Fraternity brothers pose with guns in front of Emmett Till Memorial

[Stevicus]

Ole Miss frat brothers brought guns to an Emmett Till memorial. They’re not the first.

For more than 50 years, nothing marked the remote spot in northwest Mississippi where 14-year-old Emmett Till’s body was pulled from the Tallahatchie River in 1955, after he was dragged from a relative’s home in the middle of the night and brutally lynched. So when a historical marker was placed there in 2007, as part of an effort to commemorate Till’s life and the way his murder became a catalyzing moment in the civil rights movement, it was seen as a sign of progress.

Three students from the University of Mississippi pose in front of a historical marker at the site where Emmett Till's body was found.
Then, people started showing up with weapons.


On Thursday, which would have been Till’s 78th birthday, a photograph circulated around the Internet, drawing outrage. It showed three white University of Mississippi fraternity brothers smiling as they posed in front of the sign with a shotgun and an AR-15. Originally posted on a private Instagram account, where it received 274 likes before being removed, it was made public by the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting and ProPublica.

The article then went on to mention numerous incidents of the sign being stolen, vandalized, or shot at.

In the Instagram post, the historical marker is riddled with bullet holes, though it’s impossible to tell whether the Ole Miss students fired the shots. For more than a decade, the sign has been subjected to nonstop vandalism, taxing the resources of the small nonprofit organization that put it there.

“Our signs and ones like them have been stolen, thrown in the river, replaced, shot, replaced again, shot again, defaced with acid and have had KKK spray painted on them,” the Emmett Till Memorial Commission said in a statement Thursday. “The vandalism has been targeted and it has been persistent. Occasionally, the national news has picked up the story. More often, these acts have gone unnoticed and been the responsibility of our community to maintain.”

Such vandalism has occurred on signs commemorating the Emmett Till Memorial Highway, a 38-mile stretch of Route 49 in Mississippi, as well as on the sign in front of the store where Emmett Till was accused of whistling at a white woman.

A historical marker in front of Bryant’s Grocery & Meat Market in Money, Miss., where a white storekeeper accused Till of whistling at her, was defaced in 2017 by vandals who removed its vinyl, literally erasing the story of Till’s death and the subsequent acquittal of the two men accused of murdering him.

“This time, it’s not someone with a shotgun or somebody trying to run over or tear down the sign,” Davis Houck, a rhetorical studies professor at Florida State University and member of the Emmett Till Memory Project, told the Clarion Ledger. “This time, it’s more sinister because it’s carefully thought out. It’s not a defacing, but an erasing.”

The article outlines other strategies they're trying to use to prevent and discourage further vandalism, although some are suggesting leaving the bullet-strewn sign up just the way it is.

Some have also suggested that the vandalism adds another layer of meaning to the sign. In 2018, after the brand-new marker was shot up, Tell told the Clarion Ledger that he was in favor of leaving the sign the way it was, explaining that the bullet holes “bear eloquent witness to the fact that work remains to be done, that the memory of Till’s murder still cuts a rift through the heart of the modern-day Delta.”

Alvin Sykes, the president of the Emmett Till Justice Campaign, agreed, telling the paper, “The sign going back up is a sign of progress. The bullets are showing how much further we need to go.”

Yet, others have argued that replacing the sign again and again will eventually send a necessary message. “I would keep putting it up, and someone is going to get tired after a while,” Annie Wright, whose husband was Emmett Till’s cousin and shared a bed with him on the night that he was dragged from their home, told the New York Times in 2018.

They're talking about putting in a bulletproof sign and possibly surveillance equipment.

 

[Stanyon]

One singular act of injustice 64 years ago, three young morons

 

[Stevicus]

One singular act of injustice 64 years ago, three young morons

It's more than just three, as the article details numerous incidents involving various signs and memorials over the course of many years.

 

[shmogie]

Ole Miss frat brothers brought guns to an Emmett Till memorial. They’re not the first.



The article then went on to mention numerous incidents of the sign being stolen, vandalized, or shot at.



Such vandalism has occurred on signs commemorating the Emmett Till Memorial Highway, a 38-mile stretch of Route 49 in Mississippi, as well as on the sign in front of the store where Emmett Till was accused of whistling at a white woman.



The article outlines other strategies they're trying to use to prevent and discourage further vandalism, although some are suggesting leaving the bullet-strewn sign up just the way it is.



They're talking about putting in a bulletproof sign and possibly surveillance equipment.

Sadly, in our disrespectful culture of today, all kinds of signs and memorials are defaced and vandalized.

Many, as I do, see the removal of historical statues as the purest form of vandalism. History is just history, and attempting to rewrite it by removing the bumps, scars and idiocy of it denies history.

As to these frat people, they are disrespectful idiots. However, as history shows, in America you have the right to be an idiot.

 

[Stanyon]

It's more than just three, as the article details numerous incidents involving various signs and memorials over the course of many years.

And still, one singular act of injustice 64 years ago and a sign.

meanwhile (and this is just three, there are many others):

List of Kansas City area homicides in 2019 | The Kansas City Star

Victims in the last 12 months - The Homicide Report - Los Angeles Times

Interactive Map: Violence in Dallas: 93 Murders in 2019 - NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

 

[The Reverend Bob]

The university should shut down their fraternity as punishment

 

[The Reverend Bob]

And still, one singular act of injustice 64 years ago and a sign.

meanwhile (and this is just three, there are many others):

List of Kansas City area homicides in 2019 | The Kansas City Star

Victims in the last 12 months - The Homicide Report - Los Angeles Times

Interactive Map: Violence in Dallas: 93 Murders in 2019 - NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

Non sequitur

 

[Stanyon]

 

[Revoltingest]

Ole Miss frat brothers brought guns to an Emmett Till memorial. They’re not the first.



The article then went on to mention numerous incidents of the sign being stolen, vandalized, or shot at.



Such vandalism has occurred on signs commemorating the Emmett Till Memorial Highway, a 38-mile stretch of Route 49 in Mississippi, as well as on the sign in front of the store where Emmett Till was accused of whistling at a white woman.



The article outlines other strategies they're trying to use to prevent and discourage further vandalism, although some are suggesting leaving the bullet-strewn sign up just the way it is.



They're talking about putting in a bulletproof sign and possibly surveillance equipment.

Fraternities are roiling cauldrons of abuse, immaturity, senselessness,
recklessness, outrageousness & tribalism. Their exploits are unleashed
upon all things, so I wouldn't read too much into an incident of mocking
sacred memorials.

 

[sun rise]

And still, one singular act of injustice 64 years ago and a sign.

meanwhile (and this is just three, there are many others):

List of Kansas City area homicides in 2019 | The Kansas City Star

Victims in the last 12 months - The Homicide Report - Los Angeles Times

Interactive Map: Violence in Dallas: 93 Murders in 2019 - NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

And the growth of right-wing terrorism

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...-by-far-right-killers-who-oppose-immigration/

 

[columbus]

One singular act of injustice 64 years ago, three young morons

They're just trying to Make America Great Again.
What's wrong with that?
Tom

 

[sun rise]

Fraternities are roiling cauldrons of abuse, immaturity, senselessness,
recklessness, outrageousness & tribalism. Their exploits are unleashed
upon all things, so I wouldn't read too much into an incident of mocking
sacred memorials.

There's a difference between acts like this report and this

 

[Revoltingest]

There's a difference between acts like this report and this

And there is much in common.


Were you ever a young pup...can you remember?
I know that I was unaware what others held sacred & dear.
What seemed like great sport was deeply offensive to
others. That connection only dawned later.

 

[The Reverend Bob]

Fraternities are roiling cauldrons of abuse, immaturity, senselessness,
recklessness, outrageousness & tribalism. Their exploits are unleashed
upon all things, so I wouldn't read too much into an incident of mocking
sacred memorials.

They are motivated by racism and you know it.

 

[sun rise]

And there is much in common.


Were you ever a young pup...can you remember?
I know that I was unaware what others held sacred & dear.
What seemed like great sport was deeply offensive to
others. That connection only dawned later.

I learned from how others reacted which was different depending on the situation. That's the point of the difference in reaction - to present that difference so 'young pups' can learn. False equivalence is no help in education.

 

[Revoltingest]

They are motivated by racism and you know it.

I haven't heard the perps speak of their motives.
Some people are racist...I am shocked...shocked, I tell you!

 

[Revoltingest]

I learned from how others reacted which was different depending on the situation. That's the point of the difference in reaction - to present that difference so 'young pups' can learn. False equivalence is no help in education.

To misuse "false equivalence" is also no help.
May these young bucks also find this an edifying experience.

 

[The Reverend Bob]

I haven't heard the perps speak of their motives.
Some people are racist...I am shocked...shocked, I tell you!

Their actions speak for them

 

[Revoltingest]

Their actions speak for them

Millions of sensibilities are being triggered all over the country by a frat prank.

 

[The Reverend Bob]

Millions of sensibilities are being triggered all over the country by a frat prank.

An insensitive and malicious frat prank