During the era of Jim Crow,
racial etiquette was an additional utensil of segregation that if nor abided by
in the South could cost a man his life or threaten that of his family. When in
the presence of white people, blacks were expected to behave a certain way:
expressing their manners, actions, attitudes, and words in a subordinate
fashion. If a black person failed to adhere to the practices of racial
etiquette, then they would most likely become the victims of violence,
especially in the rural South. The murder of Emmett Till is evidence of the brutality
of Jim Crow’s racial etiquette.
In 1955 14 year old Emmett Till
went to visit relatives in Mississippi. While visiting a store in Money, MS
with cousins, it was reported that Emmett flirted with the white woman working
there. He whistled at her in a flirtatious way breaching the rules of racial
etiquette. A black man (or boy) was not supposed to flirt with a white woman;
it was seen as disrespectful and threatened racial barriers. As a result of
this violation, the woman’s husband Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam
kidnapped Emmett to teach him a lesson. Being from Chicago, Emmett was not
aware of the severity of his situation. When Bryant and Milam later confessed
their crime to Look magazine, they
explained that originally they only intended to scare Emmett with a whipping;
however, they could not scare him because his mind was filled with the “poisonous”
notion of equality. So they killed him to make an example of him.
Because Emmett Till did not comply
with the rules of racial etiquette he was brutally beaten, shot in the head,
and dumped in a river with an anchor around his neck. His body was so broken and
bloated that the only way they were able to positively identify him was by his
ring. Bryant and Milan were acquitted for the murder, and although they
confessed to kidnapping Emmett they were not penalized by law. This
demonstrates how hate crimes were institutionally sanctioned in the deep South.
I cannot imagine living in a
world where saying something or behaving in a certain way could lead to bodily
harm or death. Fear for one’s life would make you constantly aware of your
manners and actions when in the presence of white people. In a time when
segregation was supposed to be abolished, the lingering Jim Crow kept the
notion of white supremacy alive in the South.
Here is a link to the article where Bryant and Milan told what happened that night.
http://www.emmetttillmurder.com/Look%201956.htm
I find the story very disturbing. Emmett Till was causing no one harm; he was simply behaving in all the ways acceptable for a white man to behave. Under the law, the two races were granted separate but equal opportunities, however that was not fulfilled. By no means can two races be separate but equal; the sole act of separation suggest inequality.
ReplyDeleteIn class, we discussed the association of nonviolence with elitism. Elitism has a negative connotation, one that suggests a higher attitude of oneself over other people or things. It's impossible to understand how African Americans using nonviolent protest can have such a negative association, while white society continually uses oppresive and violent means to maintain their 'power' with no repercussions.
This is truly a tragic case of another life lost due to racism in the United States. It is so hard to grasp how, even after outlawing slavery and claiming equal rights among blacks and whites, white men could get away with murder. And while I would like to tell myself that much improvement has been made since this case roughly fifty fives years ago, this is actually not the case.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this blog, the first thing that came to mind was the case of Trayvon Martin, an innocent black teenager confronted and shot by a cop, who was ultimately acquitted of murder. The situation is so similar, it blows my mind. Comparing the case of Martin to Till leaves me with so many questions: Have racism and discrimination really diminished? Is there a different type of racism and racial categorizing today? What could have been done to avoid the deaths of these teenagers?
Another topic that comes to mind is one discussed in class by Professor McKinney: the disproportionate amount of jailed African Americans to Caucasians in the US. Is this a coincidence or is modern racism and discrimination still as prevalent as it was fifty years ago? I think even more thought-provoking and important to ask, however, is what can be done to end this discrimination, once and for all?
After taking this course, I honestly feel as though I have gained so much more appreciation for African Americans in the United States. I genuinely believe that education is the answer to the problem of discrimination (not only in America toward African Americans, but everywhere, toward everyone of all gender, ethnicity, and religion). If people gain an appreciation for a culture and background outside of their own, I do not think that they will be as likely to discriminate against it because they will see that ultimately, everyone is human.