Thaindian News

By Gina Gomez
On Friday, the family of Emmett Till made the announcement that the glass topped casket which had displayed the disfigured body of Till to the world, was on its way to the Smithsonian Institution. The incident involving Emmett Till and his eventual gruesome murder is considered to be the rallying point that triggered off and set in motion the civil rights movement.

In a statement, Till’s cousin Simeon Wright said, “Hopefully, when this casket, when it’s on display at the Smithsonian, young boys and young girls from all over the world are going to see it and it’s going to inspire them to fight for those who are too weak to fight for themselves.”

Said Lonnie Bunch, who is the director of the Smithsonian’s planned National Museum of African American History and Culture, “Part of the responsibility of a national museum is to help people to remember, and through this donation we will ensure that future generations will remember how the death of a child, a mother’s courage, helped to transform America.”

The Friday announcement made at the Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ coincided with the 54th anniversary of the day on which Till was killed. Till’s casket was discovered when a mass burial site land resale scam was unearthed last month. In a rundown shack like garage, the casket was found during the investigation procedure of the cemetery land resale scam.

Till had been a brutal victim of racial discrimination. At the age of 14, he was dragged from his bed and lynched as well as shot to death because of whistling at a white woman. His body was thrown in the river, where it had remained for three days, before it was netted out by two fishermen.