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 Post subject: A sad, yet important anniversary yesterday.
PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 10:26 am 
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Big in Australia
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It was the 50th anniversary of the murder of Emmitt Till - a 14 year old Chicago boy who was visiting family in Mississippi. He was black and made the fatal mistake of whistling at a white woman.

He was jumped by a pack of white men and brutally beaten to death.
His mother held his funeral as an open-casket affair so that the world could see what those racist bastards had done to her baby (and it was not pretty).

A major catalyst (along with Rosa Parks) in jumpstarting the civil rights movement.

Did any of you take notice?
Say a prayer?
Do more than let the images and words flash by you on the TV screen?

I'm sure that some of you did.

Image
(I'll spared you the funeral photos.)

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Paul Caporino of M.O.T.O. Wrote:
I've recently noticed that all the unfortunate events in the lives of blues singers all seem to rhyme... I think all these tragedies could be avoided with a good rhyming dictionary.


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 10:41 am 
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Quote:
Do more than let the images and words flash by you on the TV screen?

Most of us on this board weren't around 50 years ago to have been able to watch it on TV. However, it doesn't make Emmett's story less horrific or a reminder of racial ugliness.


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 10:46 am 
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Big in Australia
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Aural Fixation Wrote:
Quote:
Do more than let the images and words flash by you on the TV screen?

Most of us on this board weren't around 50 years ago to have been able to watch it on TV. However, it doesn't make Emmett's story less horrific or a reminder of racial ugliness.


I was referring to the coverage of the anniversary.
I myself am only 35.
Did anyone notice that coverage?

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Paul Caporino of M.O.T.O. Wrote:
I've recently noticed that all the unfortunate events in the lives of blues singers all seem to rhyme... I think all these tragedies could be avoided with a good rhyming dictionary.


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 Post subject: Re: A sad, yet important anniversary yesterday.
PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 10:53 am 
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JustPlainTodd Wrote:
Did any of you take notice?
Say a prayer?
Do more than let the images and words flash by you on the TV screen?


you pompous ass.

what exactly did you do Todd? did you take notice? did you ponder it for hours after you saw it on the TV screen? did you write a song about it?

what did you do that others on this board didn't do? please, educate us.


Last edited by Dalen on Mon Aug 29, 2005 10:58 am, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: A sad, yet important anniversary yesterday.
PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 10:57 am 
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JustPlainTodd Wrote:
Say a prayer?
Do more than let the images and words flash by you on the TV screen?


That's a rather condescending thing to say.

Edit: Dalen beat me to it while I was watering down my post to make it more polite.


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 Post subject: Re: A sad, yet important anniversary yesterday.
PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 11:02 am 
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Big in Australia
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Dalen Wrote:
JustPlainTodd Wrote:
Did any of you take notice?
Say a prayer?
Do more than let the images and words flash by you on the TV screen?


you pompous ass.

what exactly did you do Todd? did you take notice? did you ponder it for hours after you saw it on the TV screen?

what did you do that others on this board didn't do? please, educate us.


I'm not implying that I am above you.
Not in the least.
I did take notice.
I did say a prayer.

Did I ponder it for hours? No.
For a while - 15 or 20 minutes? Yes.

I apologize if my post came off as self-righteous to you.
I just wanted to bring attention to something that I thought deserved your attention.

JustPlainTodd Wrote:
Did any of you take notice?
Say a prayer?
Do more than let the images and words flash by you on the TV screen?

Those words were meant more as a commentary on the way we watch the news. Hell... the way I watch the news, on most days.
I just wanted to know if the anniversary registered with any of you.
If you are black I would assume that it would register. But most of us are not, myself included. So I just wanted to know if anyone noticed the coverage.

Again, I did not mean to come off as pompous of holier than thou.
For some reason that I cannot explain (and no, it is not guilt, I don't think), the topic of Civil Rights and the fight against racism has always hit home with me. So yeah, I noticed.

I'm not an expert. And my knowledge of the history is admittedly, only slightly better than most... I'm no expert but it does command my attention when placed in front of me.

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Paul Caporino of M.O.T.O. Wrote:
I've recently noticed that all the unfortunate events in the lives of blues singers all seem to rhyme... I think all these tragedies could be avoided with a good rhyming dictionary.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 11:42 am 
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I was not aware that this was the anniversary of his death. Then again, I haven't seen any media mention of it either to have made me aware.

Thank you for informing us, Todd.


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 11:44 am 
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yeah, everything that I've seen on the news has been re: the hurricane that's reaming out new orleans.


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 12:08 pm 
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TEH MACHINE
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I live in Canada so I've never even heard of what you're talking about.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 12:09 pm 
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I whistled at some women in recognition.


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 12:12 pm 
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DumpJack Wrote:
I live in Canada so I've never even heard of what you're talking about.


Link to a short documentary about the event

EDIT: If you do a google image search for "Emmitt Till" you can actually see the funeral pictures that were published back in 1955. Not pretty.

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Paul Caporino of M.O.T.O. Wrote:
I've recently noticed that all the unfortunate events in the lives of blues singers all seem to rhyme... I think all these tragedies could be avoided with a good rhyming dictionary.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 12:19 pm 
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DumpJack Wrote:
I live in Canada so I've never even heard of what you're talking about.


Racist.


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 12:44 pm 
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Billzebub Wrote:
DumpJack Wrote:
I live in Canada so I've never even heard of what you're talking about.


Racist.


I'm not familiar with that term...

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 12:49 pm 
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DumpJack Wrote:
Billzebub Wrote:
DumpJack Wrote:
I live in Canada so I've never even heard of what you're talking about.


Racist.


I'm not familiar with that term...

http://www.hopesite.ca/remember/history/racism_canada_1.html


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 12:51 pm 
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alongdrive Wrote:
I whistled at some women in recognition.

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Image


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 2:24 pm 
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If he had chosen to be beaten and die in an effort to raise racial awareness, then I would find this more of a monumental event. Do you think iff he had known of the outcome before whisteling that he would have still whistled?


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 2:47 pm 
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Of course not.
He was a 14-year-old boy who was just doing what many pubescent boys would do when seeing an attractive woman. He died for it.

It was his mother who helped make him a martyr by choosing to have his funeral an open-casket affair. To show the world "what they did to my baby."

And Ebony magizine, I believe it was, also helped by publishing the photographs of his mutilated face.
Image

I repeat.
He was 14.

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Paul Caporino of M.O.T.O. Wrote:
I've recently noticed that all the unfortunate events in the lives of blues singers all seem to rhyme... I think all these tragedies could be avoided with a good rhyming dictionary.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 2:49 pm 
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maybe there is news coverage there because he was from chicago???

i've never even heard of this until this post....

edit: has anyone from outside of chicago ever heard of this story?

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Last edited by e-stone on Mon Aug 29, 2005 2:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 2:52 pm 
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To be fair, if I was walking through the downtown today and whistled at some black women, I wouldn't be surprised if a bunch of black guys roughed me up or shot me.

So it's not entirely that different.


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 Post subject: Re: A sad, yet important anniversary yesterday.
PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 2:55 pm 
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JustPlainTodd Wrote:
A major catalyst (along with Rosa Parks) in jumpstarting the civil rights movement.

Not to take anything away from this young boy or Rosa, but I consider the civil rights movement to have been jumpstarted by none other than.....
Image


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 3:01 pm 
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Big in Australia
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Oh yeah, Steve.

But you can't point to just one or two events or people. There are numerous. But by all accounts, the Emmitt Till murder and funeral was an important part of the beginnings of the civil rights movement.

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Paul Caporino of M.O.T.O. Wrote:
I've recently noticed that all the unfortunate events in the lives of blues singers all seem to rhyme... I think all these tragedies could be avoided with a good rhyming dictionary.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 3:01 pm 
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alongdrive Wrote:
To be fair, if I was walking through the downtown today and whistled at some black women, I wouldn't be surprised if a bunch of black guys roughed me up or shot me.



very true.

shit, if you had on some new sneakers they wanted, you might get beaten down even worse.


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 3:04 pm 
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TEH MACHINE
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Leonard Zelig Wrote:
DumpJack Wrote:
Billzebub Wrote:
DumpJack Wrote:
I live in Canada so I've never even heard of what you're talking about.


Racist.


I'm not familiar with that term...

http://www.hopesite.ca/remember/history/racism_canada_1.html


I was being facetious.

Jesus.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 3:06 pm 
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alongdrive Wrote:
To be fair, if I was walking through the downtown today and whistled at some black women, I wouldn't be surprised if a bunch of black guys roughed me up or shot me.

So it's not entirely that different.

So that makes it okay? I don't understand what point you're trying to make.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 3:07 pm 
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elephantstone Wrote:
maybe there is news coverage there because he was from chicago???

i've never even heard of this until this post....

edit: has anyone from outside of chicago ever heard of this story?

It was significant because of the boy's age and the fact that his mother chose to show the reality of racism. In the big picture it gets lost because lynchings and violence against blacks in America was going on for a century with virtually no censure.

In 2000 an exhibit of postcards(!!) which displayed lynchings as they were occuring was shown in the Roth Horowitz Gallery in NY. You would think these people were out on a picnic posing and smiling with their kids as a black body swung from a tree or was burned beyond recognition.

Steve


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