New National Monument Will Increase Access to Civil Rights Movement History Through America’s National Parks System
Thanks to the collaborative efforts of the National Park Foundation (NPF), the National Park Service (NPS), and the Emmett Till Interpretive Center (ETIC), the Tallahatchie County Courthouse in Mississippi where an all-white jury acquitted two white men of Till’s murder in 1955 will be made accessible to the public as part of the newly established Emmett Till & Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument.
Made possible through nearly $3 million dollars in private philanthropy, the courthouse will join two other sites that comprise the national monument, including Graball Landing where Till’s body was recovered from the Tallahatchie River and the Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in Chicago, where Mamie Till-Mobley held Emmett’s open-casket funeral.
As part of the National Park System, the courthouse will preserve the history of the Till family and this important chapter of civil rights history for present and future generations.
“The new park site holds the power to inspire a deeper and more complete understanding of America’s ever-evolving story,” said Will Shafroth, president and CEO of the National Park Foundation. “Thanks to the partnership and support of the Mellon Foundation and Fund II Foundation, the new Emmett Till & Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument will make a seminal event in our nation’s civil rights era history accessible to all.”
With a $2 million dollar grant from the Mellon Foundation’s Monuments Project, the National Park Foundation worked with ETIC and NPS to facilitate the acquisition of the Tallahatchie County Courthouse that enabled the establishment of the site by the National Park Service. This was possible through the purchase and renovation of an existing structure that will house the new county courthouse which is located blocks from the original.
“Due to the shared vision and coordination of the Till family, community activists, historians, educators, culture workers, and other partner organizations, the torture and murder of Emmett Till and the bravery of his mother Mamie Till-Mobley will be forever marked as sites of learning in the country’s commemorative landscape. The Mellon Foundation is honored to be a part of this vital collaborative effort to make indelibly present Emmett Till’s central and sacred place in our collective American history. May his tragic death and his mother’s courage continue to empower us to stand bravely against forces of violence and hatred.”
Elizabeth Alexander, president of the Mellon Foundation.
This funding, in addition to $1 million from the Fund II Foundation, also supports the creation of a National Park Service Park Ranger position focused on community engagement to partner with local stakeholders and bolster efforts to interpret the Tallahatchie County Courthouse for park visitors, expand the digital storytelling around the Till family within the visitor center, conduct a cultural landscape report, and install a contemplative area at Graball Landing that allows visitors to reflect on the story of Emmett Till. “
Fund II is honored to support the establishment of a new park site that commemorates the people, places, and events that have shaped American history and African American experiences,” said Robert F. Smith, founder and president of the Fund II Foundation. “We are especially proud to support the digital storytelling that will bring the incredible story of Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley to a new generation of Americans.”
In addition to its funding support for NPF’s acquisition of the courthouse and park interpretive staff, the Mellon Foundation’s Monument Project has also made a $2.9 million grant to support restoration and public accessibility at Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in Chicago.
On yesterday, Presiding Bishop of the Church of God in Christ J. Drew Sheard issued a statement celebrating the establishment of a monument honoring Emmett Till. The Till family was served by Roberts Temple COGIC as many in the nation saw for the first time the horrors of lynching in America. As noted on a site dedicated to the preservation of historic Roberts Temple COGIC, the Church of God in Christ has significant ties to civil rights history in America. Besides Roberts Temple hosting the visitation and funeral of Emmett Till, Malcolm X was funeralized at Faith Temple Church of God in Christ in Harlem, New York and most famously, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his final speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” from the pulpit of COGIC headquarters, Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee.
Chicago landmark at Robert’s Temple COGIC Photo Credit: Robert’s Temple (Facebook) taken by Jacek Boczarski
Current presiding bishop Sheard is the eighth in succession and stands on the shoulders of gospel giants who have helmed one of the largest Pentecostal denominations in the world. At the time of Emmett Till’s heinous murder, the Church of God in Christ was still under the leadership of its founder, Bishop Charles Harrison Mason.
At a fraught time in the U.S. over matters concerning race and history, President Joe Biden signed a proclamation creating a national monument honoring Emmett Till, a Black teenager who was abducted, tortured and killed in 1955, and his mother.
The Presiding Bishop had this to say about the monument and what it means to America and the Church of God in Christ:
“On July 25, 2023, what would be Mr. Emmett Till’s 82nd birthday, I am delighted that our nation, under President Joe Biden’s leadership, will honor Mr. Till and his mother, Mrs. Mamie Till-Mobley, with a national monument established across three locations in Illinois and Mississippi, in an effort to protect the actual places that tell Till’s agonizing story.The monument will serve as a reminder of the atrocities that occurred in August 1955, when two white men abducted, tortured, and killed Till, a 14-year old Black boy, accused of offending a white woman. The monument also allows for reflection of the valiant activism demonstrated by his mother, determined to keep the story of her son’s senseless murder alive.
For today’s generation, the monument is a critical symbol of the tribulation endured by African Americans during the harrowing, culture shifting years of the Civil Rights era in America.As the funeral of Mr. Emmett Till was held at Robert’s Temple Church Of God In Christ in Chicago, Illinois, the Church Of God In Christ, Inc. is incredibly humbled to have been a haven for Mrs. Mamie Till-Mobley and her family, as they courageously displayed the injustice inflicted upon the young Emmett Till.This brave family has been a part of the Church Of God In Christ for many generations”.
*I’d written this piece a few weeks ago but hadn’t really decided to share it for a number of reasons. After watching Terence Crutcher be gunned down in cold blood this week because the officer felt threatened while he was on the ground, I feel this is appropriate.*
There’s a lot being said about Colin Kaepernick and his protest which has led to a new movement in America. I’ll share my position as succinctly as possible. No need for a long, drawn out thesis to substantiate what I’m about to say, I’m going just say it:
White people are not better than everyone else! They’re not better than me, not better than you…or anyone else for that matter! There is NO supreme race, and if there were there’s no way it would be white people. The centuries long subjugation of non-whites must come to an end!
There, I said it. But let’s unpack what all that means:
Whether you’re free to admit it or not, you’ve more than likely bought into the lie of white supremacy. It’s been in our textbooks, on the news each night and woven subconsciously into the fabric of this otherwise great country.
‘White Is Right’ is Dead Wrong I’d have to go back too far into history to trace the inception of this phenomenon and the ensuing shift in world culture from Africa to Europe. Instead, let’s deal with this…in 2016, people still believe and endorse the malignant mantra that ‘white is right’. In church, at school, at work and even at home. Thus us bolstered by the fallacy that declares ‘white’ a supreme race.
In 1936, at Hitler’s Olympics in Berlin, he claimed that his athletes were the best and couldn’t be beat. Jesse Owens and Ralphe Metcalfe had other plans however and shuttered Hitler and his buffoonery right there on the track in both the 100 and 4×100 meter races.
In 2007 while on a gospel music tour I visited the current Olympic Stadium in Berlin. While there, I took in the history of the building. So much history there, I shall never forget it.
This is the track, in the distance you can see the bell tower.
The renovated Olympic stadium, now host to many sports and other major events.
A closer shot of the stands and the bell tower.
Full list of winners at the 1936 Games
There you see Jesse Owens’ 100M win and the US 4×100 team on the list of winners.
Your slip is showing…
White supremacy is no longer shrouded in white, red or purple hoods in clandestine gatherings in the woods. The fallacy of white supremacy has become a part of the fabric of America and to reject it rips at the seams of Lady Liberty’s robe. This is why America can’t settle its debt. America is indebted to Africans, Native Americans and their respective descendants whose blood is in the soil and foundation of each building erected.
What Is White Supremacy?
White supremacy is what white supremacy does. It asserts that white is the best. Somehow, even Jesus who was born nowhere near Europe is white. Maybe Mary was middle-eastern but that whole Holy Spirit ‘overshadowing’ thing…maybe that means that God is white, too.
As with white supremacy, it’s also time to denounce any salvific ascription to white culture and the non-black race overall.
White supremacy says that black people can’t build anything so ‘let’s destroy Tulsa’s Black Wall Street‘. White supremacy says that blacks can’t handle money so Bank of America denied both jobs and disenfranchised homebuyers. Not to be outdone, Fifths & Thirds banks manipulated auto loan interest rates for black and latino buyers. Speaking of banks, what’s with the absence of bank branches in favor or predatory payday lenders and pawn shops in the inner city?
White supremacy purports that black men are vicious rapists and murderers so they bludgeon a 14 year old Emmett Till for allegedly whistling at a white woman…who fabricated the account and never faced charges. White supremacy as strong as it is, is an unconscionable, fear based principle that says “if we don’t stop them, they will do whatever they put their minds to!” It continues because of the fear of retaliation.
Yep, there’s more! White supremacy tells you to be offended when called a “nigger”. The epithet has a hurtful past but I have given no single person or group the power to subjugate anything about me. Furthermore, the epithet is a by-product of an idiot’s attempt at emphatic speech that I refuse to dignify with a response, not even a violent one.
Believe it or not, at the root of white supremacy is envy
Oh you think blacks can only run and jump better than their non-white counterparts? Look around the world, what hasn’t been affected by black genius? Time is winding down rather swiftly and the truth is being unearthed.
This is why the black mind is the most challenged and black creativity and genius the most usurped. There’s a saying that those who don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it. Conversely, those who don’t know their history are also doomed to accept it as presented!
White supremacy has for years put black thought on trial, having to make a case for its innate greatness to minds devoid of that level or capacity of understanding. Though on trial, we have yet to make the case for criminals and suspect of color, who also deserve a fair trail and a jury of their actual ‘peers’.
The “chief cornerstone” is the same stone the builders rejected. What do you have without a cornerstone besides a badly built building. Everything built on white supremacy is on its last legs.
JB said it best I’m black and I’m proud. I’m also American and proud. In fact, I’ve never felt more American than when I was in Europe and was hated as an “American” and not an “African-American” or a second class citizen or whatever that is. It never felt so good to be hated! There was also a time while in Japan after making a wrong turn into a business we were met with shouts of: “Japanese Only!” What that means, I still don’t know but I’ll chalk it up to my American pedigree and grab a map next time.
Speaking of pedigree, I’m ignorant of my family history beyond my great-grandparents. I mean, where did my great-grandfather’s grandfather come from? Did he fall out the sky as a grown man one day? Did the stork deliver him to us? I say this in jest but for most black people in America, we know that somebody we’re related to was a slave, just about. My generation’s grandparents didn’t have it so well, either. Black babies were given incorrect names and birthdays. Can you imagine arguing with a 70+ year old when their actual birth date is? They know, even though their birth certificate reflects otherwise. I know this case to be true for at least two people in my family.
The United States won’t engage in reparations for the families of African slaves but pay ouf heftily to Jews and even Native Americans. Here’s a fair deal…if you won’t give up 40 acres and a mule to the families of those slaves, do us all a solid and help us trace our families’ origins.
I mean, who was on those ships that made it over? We haven’t even begun to delve into the tremendous loss of life on the seas *(moment of silence)*
As long as this country refuses to rectify its original sin of slavery and the multitude of injustices that continue, I hereby refuse any reverence or adherence to this country as a perceived great nation. I should be proud to be a citizen here, because…I was born here? What about my ancestors who weren’t born here, but bled and died here?
When the United States Government issued an apology for slavery, it was done so with all talks of reparations taken off the table. That was the bargaining point…AND our representatives voted in favor of it! Such a shame and with that truth, this country still has made no atonement for the slavery that built this country.
It is evil and its systems are flawed. You don’t have to endorse white supremacy for it to have been your benefactor. That’s simply called white privilege. Blacks don’t get commensurate jail sentences for petty crimes, get to wrestle with officers who are unlawfully detaining them, engage in open carry or any other glaring inconsistent privileges only seemingly betrothed to non-blacks.
Blacks are still searching for answers to Sojourner Truth’s question: “Ain’t I A Woman”? by asking “Aren’t We Americans?” Failure to weave the progeny of slaves into the fabric of this country has sealed its fate.
Because you gave not liberty, you have chosen death. Death to America’s greatness and the perceived supremacy of those lacking the magnanimous gift of melanin.
*We’ve been somewhat unsuccessful burying the word “nigger” but for all intents and purposes, this article is going to help expose and finally bury the lie of white supremacy.*
This essay may initially appear to be laced with hate speech and work as a divisive instrument of liberal propoganda. At least, I think that’s what detractors will say. I’m hoping to at least get Fox News to hate it so much that they read at least a portion of it on air. I can dream, can’t I?!? It’s not hate speech and of course I don’t hate non-blacks. I love all of God’s people. What I do despise is any system that seeks to continue to break the backs and will of people anywhere. In America, I can’t show any love before I first express my hate toward the evil system driving the country and its many influences.
