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Racism still plagues US

Just when you think it just may be possible that racism isn’t a problem anymore, the bigots remind us it is.

A recent Associated Press story reported two events involving the late Emmett Till.

Till was 14 when, in August 1955, he visited relatives in Mississippi. The black boy was born and growing up in Chicago.

With some friends, Till was in a small store near Money, Mississippi, when a white woman accused him of grabbing her wrist and uttering a few obscenities. Many years later, she admitted that was not true.

But in 1955 in Mississippi, the woman’s claim was enough for some white men to kidnap Till, torture him, beat him to unconsciousness and drown him. After his body was recovered, his mother insisted on an open casket service. She wanted people to see what vicious racists had done to her son.

Again, he was 14 years old. No one was ever convicted of killing him.

Many years later, a memorial to Till was erected near where he was killed. A few weeks ago, it was replaced — with bulletproof materials. The memorial had been vandalized so frequently that those responsible for it hoped a sturdier one could stand up to the abuse. It also had been stolen and thrown in a nearby river at one point.

Surveillance cameras were installed at the memorial. They captured a visit to it by members of the League of the South, a group of whites who also recorded themselves at the memorial.

An idea of what the league stands for can be gained by a comment one of them made: “We are here at the Emmett Till monument that represents the Civil Rights Movement for blacks,” he said. “What we want to know is where are all of the white people.” The league, incidentally, has condemned “the browning of America.”

So there you have it.

Clearly, racism is still a problem in America.

editorial@tribtoday.com

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