The story of Emmitt Till, although a tragic one, is also an inspiring one, as his story of being wrongfully lynched at 14-years-old near Money, Mississippi in 1955, became a major catalyst for the beginning of the civil rights movement here in the United States. Many decades later, his story has been retold in the recent film released under the title, “Till”.
“Till”, which stars Jalyn Hall in the main role as Emmitt and Danielle Deadwyler as his mother Mamie, was both powerful and somber to watch. While I minored in Minority Relations in college and studied Till’s story and many other tragic ones during that time of my life, watching these events reenacted on screen still disturbed me greatly. For the life of me it’s so hard to believe our country was filled with so much hatred back then towards African Americans. My best friend is African American, and I’ve never seen him as anything but my equal. In fact, I’ve never seen anyone from any other race as anything but equal to me my entire life. So, watching an exuberant and youthful, happy-go-lucky kid visit his relatives in the deep South during which he accidentally flirted with a white female cashier in a local convenience store that led to him being kidnapped, beaten, tortured, shot in the head, and finally dumped in a river, completely overwhelmed my emotions. Seeing Till’s mother lay eyes upon her son’s badly mangled, and river swollen body for the first time and grieve from her very soul (possibly the best performance I’ve ever seen by an actress) was beyond heart-wrenching. I can only imagine how many African Americans suffered like this and at the hands of all the racism that once existed so openly in this country and on some level, still does.
Why there was and still is so much hatred towards those of opposite races, colors, sexual preferences, religions, and the like in this country strikes a very painful chord within me. I work hard every day to see everyone with absolute joy and unconditional love, because in my mind there is one thing that we all share in common and that’s a piece of God with our souls. So, taking the life of this innocent 14-year-old back then over something as harmless as a flirtatious advance, or bashing someone today who just had gender reassignment, or labeling all Asians as the cause of COVID is betraying the unity God created in all of us. It simply wreaks havoc upon my soul. Why this type of hatred seems to be on the rise again, especially after so many people fought hard since Till’s time to gain justice and equality is a painful realization. Have we truly progressed or are we only regressing these days?
Regardless, the film “Till” was superbly done, enough so that it should earn itself plenty of Oscar accolades. Long after its credits rolled, I found myself pontificating on the sad state of our nation, which seems to have advanced in some ways since Till’s time, but declined in many others. I am ashamed that so many who share the same skin color as myself both back then and even to this day continue to hold hatred around their hearts towards those of opposite colors as them. What fear really rests behind this I don’t know. What I do know is that I love all people of all walks of life and work hard to accept everyone as my equal. I’m thankful that I’ve been this way as far back as I can remember and thankful for the movie “Till” for reminding me of what I pray to never become, and that’s a hateful, spiteful, judgmental individual who resorts to wrongful words or actions upon those they deem unequal, when indeed God created us at our very core to ALL be equal…
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
