Emmett Till Trial

The Emmett Till murder shined a light on the horrors of segregation and racism on the United States. Emmett Till, a young Chicago teenager, was visiting family in Mississippi during the month of August in 1955, but he was entering a state that was far more different than his hometown. Dominated by segregation, Mississippi enforced a strict leash on its African American population. After apparently flirting with a white woman, which was deeply frowned upon at this time in history, young Till was brutally murdered. Emmett Till’s murder became an icon for the Civil Rights Movement, and it helped start the demand of equal rights for all nationalities and races in the United States.

According to a release from the Bureau of Justice Statistics in the year of 2012 35% of the prison populations were white and 38% were black. (bjs.gov) In the year of 2012 there was only a 3% difference between white and black prisoners, yet according to the US Census Bureau in the year of 2012 in arrests made, white arrests were at seven million, and black was at 3 million. (census.gov) Even with double the arrests made somehow the actual incarceration rate of inmates is still with blacks leading by 3%. As stated above the arrests of white people were nearly double that of black yet the amount of people in prison remains at a 3% difference. Most of it boils down to money, in another census in 2012 the average income of a black male was nineteen thousand, compared to a white male who earned in average thirty thousand. (census.gov) With a higher income they have a better chance of both being able to afford a better lawyer or even paying such fines to avoid jail. People are not afforded the same chances equally in this system. Those with a higher income can afford a better lawyer and a better lawyer who can argue down the punishment. It is a flawed idea to allow criminals to lighten their punishment with money.

In the article “Emmett Till” the story of 14- year old, Emmett Till’s unexpected murder is told. Emmett was a young boy from Chicago, who in August 1955 hopped onto a train with his uncle and cousin to visit their family in Money, Mississippi. On his third day in Mississippi, Till visited a local grocery store with a group of teenagers. Inside the store he bought bubblegum and was accused of either whistling at, flirting with, or touching the hand of the store’s clerk, Carolyn Bryant. The store’s clerk was a white woman who was married to the owner of the store, four days later her husband, Roy Bryant and his brother J.W. Milam kidnapped and murdered Emmett Till. A few days later, Till’s mutilated body was recovered from the Tallahatchie River and could only be recognized by his late father’s ring that was on his finger. The case was taken to court and the two men were not charged with any crimes. Till’s body was shipped to his mother in Chicago where she opted to have an open casket, and the story of what had happened brought outrage to the country.

After reading the intense story of Emmett Till in the Mississippi Trial, the romantic, yet engaging Pride & Prejudice, and depressing, yet confusing story of Hamlet, have taught me that you really need to look twice before you completely understand what’s happening in the novels. Thought my essay you are going to see reasons why I’m choosing to write about the three stories I listed above and how they have influenced my life and how I gained more of a perspective on the different times throughout the centuries and how they have evolved going from Emmett Till’s segregation age to Pride and Prejudice’s romance during the renaissance age to Hamlet’s Medieval Times.

Even before watching the video, “Race on Trial” I believed that there was racial bias in the justice system and all this video did was reaffirm that. The fact that these two cases were so similar it is no surprise that the judge jumped to race as the only factor that separated their sentences. Even though there are federal sentencing guidelines put in place to prevent/reduce sentencing disparities it still occurs and many have done in depth research on it. In “The Relationship between Race, Ethnicity, and Sentencing Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis of Sentencing Research” they compared sentencing outcomes of African Americans to whites and saw that 66% of the sentencing outcomes that they studied showed that African Americans had a higher sentencing

There are several views of the murder of Emmett Till regarding the topic of whether or not he received justice. Emmett Till, a fourteen-year-old boy, was murdered purely based on racism, because he was killed for “wolf-whistling” at a white woman in August 1955. He was brutally murdered after being nearly beaten to death and having his eyes gouged out. When Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, two people involved in Till’s manslaughter, were placed on trial for his murder, they were pronounced innocent and did not receive any punishment. After being tortured and savagely killed, no one was held responsible for Emmett Till’s death. Emmett Till did not receive justice after his death.

Sentencing disparities as a result of an individual’s race or ethnic background, has been one of the most frequently investigated topics in criminological research. (Mitchell, Mackenzie 2004). Several studies have attempted to understand the impact of the offenders’ race on criminal sentencing but there has been variation in the results- some of studies concluded race does effect sentencing regardless of the legal variables; some studies revealed it does not; while other studies concluded that race does impact sentencing when coupled with other factors. (Pratt 1998).

The documentary, narrative "The Lynching of Emmett Till" by Christopher Metress, tells Emmett's story of death through various points of view. On August 24, 1955, Emmett Till, a fourteen-year-old African American boy from Chicago, entered a rural grocery store of Money, Mississippi. Because the young child had been gloating about his bond with white people up north, his southern cousins had dared him to go into the store and say something to the women working the register. Emmett accepted their challenge; seconds later he was at the counter, set on purchasing two items. What he did or said next will never be known for sure, but whatever passed between these two strangers from two different worlds set off a chain reaction that would forever

Emmett Till, a name you might not remember, but a face you’ll never forget. He was just fourteen years old when he was kidnapped and beaten beyond recognition by two white males . This was supposedly due to his “harsh” behavior towards a woman working at a shop named Carol Bryant. Although there is no actual proof of what really went down inside the store, however, whatever it was couldn’t possible justify the beating Till faced (biography).

These trials make me upset, but at the same time they make me angry. Emmett Till was only fourteen years old, and I can’t believe that Milam and Bryant tortured a child. The thing that makes me more upset that Bryant didn’t even ask his wife if she had any evidence, that proved Emmett Till flirted with her. He could’ve asked her, but I guess he knew he wasn’t going to get punished. Since Bryant and Milam were white, they couldn’t go to the jail because they were accused by blacks. People used technology to make memes comparing Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown to Emmett Till because they were going against the whites. These three were African Americans and their murderers not found guilty. After these types of incidents, it clearly explains

Emmett’s mother Mamie was an excellent woman. She was the first black woman to graduate from Argo community High School and she worked in the Air force as a clerk.

Emmett Till was a 14 year old African American boy who was brutally beaten and murdered for allegedly whistling at a white woman. Emmett Till lived in Chicago,but was visiting family in Money, Mississippi(source 2). Carolyn Bryant, the “victim”, might have thought he had whistled at her. Emmett had a small speech impediment because he had polio when he was young, and he sometimes whistled to help him. The only witness to this act was Carolyn Bryant. Emmett was beaten and murdered for whistling in a white woman’s presence in a small grocery store(source 1). Roy Bryant(Carolyn’s husband) was outraged and took J.W. Milam to kill Emmett. They shot him in the head and beat him up. Then they tied a heavy fan around Emmett’s neck

Recent protests and rallies have brought to light that discrimination plagues our society still today. When Discrimination and segregation was regularly practiced, Emmett Till was still young and lived in Chicago. Since Till lived in the north he was not exposed to the segregation he would soon experience in the south. His uncle and cousins were used to segregation because they lived in Mississippi. When he visited them one summer he would learn how truly terrifying discrimination could be. Till was only 14 when brutally murdered for “offending” a white woman, but from this brutality a new era of civil rights movements changed the world.

In the article about Emmett Till. It talks about how he was a reporter at a young age. This article compares to Tom Robinson for To Kill a Mockingbird, because they were both killed and did the same thing and same way. When Tom Robinson was on court with Mrs. Ewell it was because he was flirting with a white female. So was Emmett Till.

you are right,A judge should be held to the standard of making each sentence the same. I don't think race should play a part in any sentence,so judges should try their best to keep sentencing fair so no one blame them. Judges should follow sentencing guidelines. Judges should be held by the same guideline as everyone else. Judge should not be able to make this kind of call because they may not like the person and sentence them to a lot of time.Any person that did not like a person who was able to take that type of power in their hand might abuse it to. A person should not abuse that kind of power. think about your son or daughter. I know judges get mad because , so many repeat offender keep coming in their courtroom, but they should still