Why does Emmett Till have a marker and highway stretch named after him (Jackson: homes, buy)

[SippiStateBulldogs]

Ok I am African American and a Mississippian with roots going back 250 years. Why is Emmet Till honored? I mean I am not justifying his killing or saying the people who did it should not have been put in prison for life. What I am asking though is why is he honored. He whistled at another mans wife. That's not noteworthy enough in my book to warrant labeling him a civil rights leader or honoring him with a civil rights marker or stretch of highway. What are your opinions?

[Listener2307]

He's a symbol. In case you haven't noticed, a great many people take delight in poking Mississippi in the eye whenever they can. Civil rights leaders do it because it furthers their agenda of self-aggrandizement. If they can find some hapless soul to "defend" by generating outrage they will also find well meaning people to help them do it. Collecting thousands and thousands of dollars for a few signs is one way to "help".

If you took the supporters of the above referenced marker, and separated them all I suspect you would find two groups. Group "A" would not be from Mississippi, but would be fairly sure that lynchings still go on and want to "put a stop to this evil". Group "B" would be from Mississippi, but would be willing to believe that their only path to salvation is through self flagellation.

I think I saw a group of the Flagellants walking along the Emmett Till highway lashing themselves with whips made from kudzu.

[GrandviewGloria]

Well, I think Italy ought to erect a monument to Emmett's father, Louis Till. He, apparently, was a real peach: Louis Till - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Too Old To Care]

I don't live in Mississippi, but I don't think it was because he was murdered, but it was the viciousness of his death that brought nationwide attention to Mississippi, and kinda helped in getting sympathy from outside the South as to the way the blacks were treated, thus helping to push on the civil rights movement, and that's why he became a martyr. He wasn't trying to do any civil rights stuff, or make any statements, like Rosa Parks or Medgar Evars or Martin Luther King, that I know of. He was a young kid and just living his life and he was murdered in a way that is worse than the way you would kill an animal, pretty much for being black.

As an outsider looking in, having a highway and a marker named after Emmit Teal seems more appropriate than having an entire county and city, and public schools and public parks named after Nathan Bedford Forest. If you don't know who he is, look him up in Wikipedia.

[GrandviewGloria]

Originally Posted by Too Old To Care

... having a highway and a marker named after Emmit Teal seems more appropriate...

Actually, the Emmit Teal Marker (as opposed to the Emmett Till Marker) is located somewhere inside The Country Club of Jackson. It celebrates freedom, too. It celebrates the point at which homeowners in Fashionable Northeast Jackson threw off the repressive Green & Gold color schemes imposed upon them from 1968 to 1978, and embraced the freedom to mix-in bits of Peach and Teal. Emmit Teal invented the first Teal Blue pigment which was both Scotchgard-compatible and fade-resistant, opening whole new vistas for application of that transcendent hue.

Besides the impressive fountained monument, in naturally-Teal Verde Marble, with peachy Russian Gold gilding at key points, Emmit Teal Drive is lined with a veritable cavalcade of French Providential masterpiece homes. To quote a local architectural historian: "Perhaps nowhere else in America have plywood soffits and brick veneer been applied to Mansardesque homes with such verve and immediacy."

[Too Old To Care]

Originally Posted by GrandviewGloria

Actually, the Emmit Teal Marker (as opposed to the Emmett Till Marker) is located somewhere inside The Country Club of Jackson. It celebrates freedom, too. It celebrates the point at which homeowners in Fashionable Northeast Jackson threw off the repressive Green & Gold color schemes imposed upon them from 1968 to 1978, and embraced the freedom to mix-in bits of Peach and Teal. Emmit Teal invented the first Teal Blue pigment which was both Scotchgard-compatible and fade-resistant, opening whole new vistas for application of that transcendent hue.

Besides the impressive fountained monument, in naturally-Teal Verde Marble, with peachy Russian Gold gilding at key points, Emmit Teal Drive is lined with a veritable cavalcade of French Providential masterpiece homes. To quote a local architectural historian: "Perhaps nowhere else in America have plywood soffits and brick veneer been applied to Mansardesque homes with such verve and immediacy."

Grandview Gloria, you are one of my favorite posters. I've been reading your posts for a year or two or longer. Your posts are one reason I come to the CD Mississippi forum. You're probably the best writer I've ever read in any online forum I've ever followed. Not only are your posts well written, they are also very entertaining. Are you an author, or have you ever considered writing a book? I bet you could write a best seller. Even a book composed of short stories based on your observations and memories of life in Mississippi would probably be a very popular book. I know I would buy a copy for myself and buy several more and give to friends and relatives as birthday and Christmas gifts.

[Desert kid]

Originally Posted by Too Old To Care

I don't live in Mississippi, but I don't think it was because he was murdered, but it was the viciousness of his death that brought nationwide attention to Mississippi, and kinda helped in getting sympathy from outside the South as to the way the blacks were treated, thus helping to push on the civil rights movement, and that's why he became a martyr. He wasn't trying to do any civil rights stuff, or make any statements, like Rosa Parks or Medgar Evars or Martin Luther King, that I know of. He was a young kid and just living his life and he was murdered in a way that is worse than the way you would kill an animal, pretty much for being black.

As an outsider looking in, having a highway and a marker named after Emmit Teal seems more appropriate than having an entire county and city, and public schools and public parks named after Nathan Bedford Forest. If you don't know who he is, look him up in Wikipedia.

Having read more than a few things about Forrest outside of the internet, own several books on him, he wasn't some cardboard villain.

[guestJ23]

Originally Posted by Too Old To Care

I don't live in Mississippi, but I don't think it was because he was murdered, but it was the viciousness of his death that brought nationwide attention to Mississippi, and kinda helped in getting sympathy from outside the South as to the way the blacks were treated, thus helping to push on the civil rights movement, and that's why he became a martyr. He wasn't trying to do any civil rights stuff, or make any statements, like Rosa Parks or Medgar Evars or Martin Luther King, that I know of. He was a young kid and just living his life and he was murdered in a way that is worse than the way you would kill an animal, pretty much for being black.

As an outsider looking in, having a highway and a marker named after Emmit Teal seems more appropriate than having an entire county and city, and public schools and public parks named after Nathan Bedford Forest. If you don't know who he is, look him up in Wikipedia.

Great post and response.....I'm finding it mind-boggling that the question even has to be asked..........especially by a Black person.

[JacksonPanther]

Originally Posted by guestJ23

Great post and response.....I'm finding it mind-boggling that the question even has to be asked..........especially by a Black person.

Which should make you wonder if the OP really is an Af-Am... Typical race-baiting thread.

[SippiStateBulldogs]

I know who Nathan Bedford Forrest was. I live in Memphis and was upset when they changed the name of the park named after him. He was a great general, Memphis city councilman, and southern legend. So what he owned slaves. Most counties and parks east of the Mississippi are named after people who owned slaves. The fort pillow massacre is subjective. Either way it was war. I do not see anything wrong with things being named after Nathan Bedford Forrest. Just like I do not mind things being named after Medgar Evers or Colt Hollier. Emmett Till no thank you. He was just a boy who came down here from up north and disrespected another mans wife. Like I said he should not have been killed but he is no hero.