Thaindian News

Emmett Till’s name has made the headlines once more, so many years after his death (more than 50 years). Emmett Till, an African American, was killed at the age of 14 in Money, Mississippi in the August of 1955. The reason for such a brutal act was based on the sole fact that the young boy had dared to flirt with a white woman (and maybe put his arms around her waist?).

Now, years later, Till is once more in the news in relation to the Burr Cemetery incident, that was dug up yesterday; the same cemetery where Till had been buried. In a shocking incident, which has shattered a lot of people involved with the cemetery for ages, more than 200 to 300 buried bodies were dug up from the burial grounds and disposed off carelessly. The fraud had come to light only recently, when yesterday, the land of the historic cemetery was dug up.

Carolyn Towns, the former cemetery manager, has been charged with being the mastermind behind the whole scheme which involved reselling the land to customers. The 49 year old Towns along with foreman Keith Nicks (45), dump truck operator Terrence Nicks (39) and backhoe operator Maurice Dailey (59) are the prime accused in this sordid affair. Each, if convicted, face a term of up to 30 years in jail.

The Burr Cemetery is a burial ground that is an active amalgamation of a huge chuck of history. Till and his mother, Mamie Till Bradley, are buried there too. Till had been the tragic face behind the American Civil Rights Movement. Till had been the victim of a savage and brutal street justice from persons who had thought that the young boy needed that sort of extreme punishment, to maintain the strict borderline that separated the blacks from the whites.