the suffering

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Emmitt TillA final Insult

[click photo for more about Emmitt]

This past weekend it was discovered that the out of state owners of Burr Oak Cemetery, a historic African American cemetery near Chicago, have for the last year been excavating existing graves and dumping the remains in order to resell the plots. In some cases the the existing remains were simply pounded down into the ground to make way for new occupants.

The Raw Story reports:

Grave robbers stripped at least 300 plots at a historic black cemetery outside Chicago, dumped many of the bodies and then resold the plots for a profit, officials said Thursday.

The years-long scheme was carried out by the cemetery's manager and three gravediggers who sold the "used" graves so they could pocket the fees rather than pass them along to the Arizona-based owners.

"This was not done in a very delicate way," Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart said at a press conference.

"They would excavate a grave, excavate the entire site and then they would proceed to dump the remains wherever they found a place to do it in the back of the cemetery."

....

Burr Oak is one of Chicago's oldest predominantly African-American cemeteries and is home to a number of historic figures, including Emmett Till, whose 1955 murder galvanized the civil rights movement.

Blues legend Dinah Washington and boxing champ Ezzard Charles are also buried at Burr Oak.

The Reverend Jesse Jackson had this to say:

"There should be a special place in hell for these graveyard thieves who have done so much to hurt these families"

As a final insult cemetery manager, Caroyln Towns, is also accused of pocketing cash from a fund she set up to build a memorial museum for Till.

Cook County prosecutor Anita Alvarez sums it up:

"This crime is a whole new dimension that shows us what lengths people would go through for financial gain,"

More from Raw Story

Yesterday the site was shut to relatives who had been coming to look for the remains of their family members. The site is now considered a crime scene as additional bones are being discovered. MSNBC reports:

ALSIP, Ill. - Authorities are closing the grounds of a historic black cemetery near Chicago where four employees are accused of digging up bodies to resell plots after more bones were found on the property.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said Friday that families can no longer wander through Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip to check loved ones' graves because more of its 150 acres are now considered a crime scene.

Dart says law enforcement and families alike have found more bones while walking around the cemetery.

More from MSNBC

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Life in Gaza

Full Video OCCUPATION 101 1:27:59

A look at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the perspectives of seven children living in the Palestinian communities in the West Bank and Israeli neighborhoods of Jerusalem: PROMISES 1:41:51

A Day in Gaza

CORRIGENDA:

The video previously posted here has been shown to not be of the current situation.
It was purported to be of an attack on a Palestinian market on Jan 3rd 2009. It has turned out that it was in fact a video of a parade bombing at the Jabaliya refugee camp Sept. 23rd 2005.

Raw Story has more here.

A relevant piece can be found, however, at LiveLeak.com

Forty Years Gone

[click photo]

AMERICA Land of Contrasts

In America some people live in a house like this:


Others live in houses like this:


In America some people go out to diner here:


Others go here:


In America some people wake like this:


Others wake like this:


In America some people have compassion:


Others don't:

AMERICA
Land of Contrasts

Toxic FEMA Trailers - Congressional Hearings

Henry Waxman's oversight committee has just opened an investigation into FEMA's response to reports of toxic trailers. As previously discussed in an earlier article at the Lair, the Katrina refugees who have lived or are still living in the FEMA trailers are suffering from the effects of formaldehyde poisoning.

Following are videos of the hearings and the testimony of inhabitants of these trailers as well as a quizing of FEMA administrator David Paulison who just keeps regurgitating the same lame excuses and empty promises. Thanks to Nancy Pelosi for posting these videos for all to see. (Now if she would only put impeachment back on the table! Make the call 202/225-0100)

Chairman Henry Waxman's opening

James Harris, Jr., a travel trailer occupant from April 2006 to the present, gives opening testimony.

Paul Stewart, a travel trailer occupant from December 2005 to March 2006, gives opening testimony

Mary DeVany, an industrial hygienist, explains the danger of formaldehyde and the need for action

Rep. Elijah Cummings questions the witnesses.

Rep. John Yarmuth questions the witnesses

Chairman Henry Waxman questions David Paulison, Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency

FEMA CITY

Katrina Evacuees Continue Suffering.

FEMA strikes again, causing the Katrina victims even more distress. After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans FEMA contracted for over $3 billion to purchase nearly 150,000 trailers as temporary homes for evacuees who had lost their homes. There is one problem with these trailers though. Formaldehyde. You know, the stuff the grade school biology classes floated frogs in when we were kids.

The National Cancer Institute defines formaldehyde as:

a colorless, flammable, strong-smelling gas. It is an important industrial chemical used to manufacture building materials and to produce many household products. It is used in pressed wood products such as particleboard, plywood, and fiberboard, glues and adhesives, permanent press fabrics, paper product coatings, and certain insulation materials. In addition, formaldehyde is commonly used as an industrial fungicide, germicide, and disinfectant, and as a preservative in mortuaries and medical laboratories.

Even in low concentrations it is an irritant to the eyes, nose throat and lungs:

When formaldehyde is present in the air at levels exceeding 0.1 ppm, some individuals may experience health effects such as watery eyes; burning sensations of the eyes, nose, and throat; coughing; wheezing; nausea; and skin irritation. Some people are very sensitive to formaldehyde, while others have no reaction to the same level of exposure.

They also tell us:

some studies of industrial workers have suggested that formaldehyde exposure is associated with nasal cancer and nasopharyngeal cancer, and possibly with leukemia. In 1995, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) concluded that formaldehyde is a probable human carcinogen. However, in a reevaluation of existing data in June 2004, the IARC reclassified formaldehyde as a known human carcinogen.

Alternet tells us of the continued suffering of these Katrina evacuees:

Along the Gulf Coast, in the towns and fishing villages from New Orleans to Mobile, survivors of Hurricane Katrina are suffering from a constellation of similar health problems. They wake up wheezing, coughing and gasping for breath. Their eyes burn; their heads ache; they feel tired, lethargic. Nosebleeds are common, as are sinus infections and asthma attacks. Children and seniors are most severely afflicted, but no one is immune.

There's one other similarity: The people suffering from these illnesses live in trailers supplied by the Federal Emergency Management Administration.

In early May 2006, the Sierra club asked for a Congressional hearing after it found 30 out of 32 trailers it monitored had indoor air samples showing unsafe levels of formaldehyde.

"We started doing this testing because people were getting sick, having nosebleeds and having constant coughs," said Mississippi Sierra Club spokeswoman Becky Gillette. "The government is making people sick. They are putting people back in harm's way."
Gillette said the Sierra Club inserted vapor monitors in 50 trailers, though it said it had only gotten results back from a Florida lab on 32 of the tests. Formaldehyde concentrations were reported within a range of 0.06 to 0.34 parts per million in the air.

FEMA, of course. downplays the problem as being very limited.
From the Truthout article:

"FEMA is steadfastly committed to serving disaster victims and continuing to help Gulf states communities get back on their feet," agency spokesman Aaron Walker wrote in an e-mail to The Sun Herald. "FEMA and industry experts are monitoring the small number of cases where odors of formaldehyde have been reported, and we are confident that there is no ongoing risk."
"The odor may result from several sources, including materials used in the construction of certain trailers and vapors from items like new linens and burning cigarettes. By fully opening windows and using air conditioning or exhaust fans, residents can ensure proper air ventilation in their homes," Walker said.

That’s the answer! Open your windows and turn on your air conditioner. Ya, sure – in Mississippi and Louisiana – that’ll sure make for some pleasant evenings! Not to mention outrageous electric bills.

As the Jackson Free Press reveals, this ventilation plan doesn’t seem to be working:

Recent Environmental Protection Agency testing of FEMA trailers reveals higher average levels of formaldehyde than was originally found by Sierra Club testing last year. EPA testing showed unventilated trailers were 12 times the EPA limit of the dangerous preservative, and that even if the trailers were fully ventilated toxic levels in the trailers would still be three times the limit of EPA-approved levels.

Did you catch that? These trailers are a year older, yet the levels are even higher!
Becky Gillette, Vice Chair of the Mississippi Chapter of the Sierra Club had this to say:

“FEMA’s advice to ventilate obviously doesn’t reduce formaldehyde to safe levels. And it is ridiculous to tell people in the hot humid South to keep the air conditioner running and windows open at the same time,” Gillette said. “If they just ventilate and it is humid outside, that can actually increase formaldehyde outgasing.”

Terry Sloane, former employee of Gulf Stream Coach – manufacturer of 50,000 of the subject trailers – reported to CBS News that:

…the company built tens of thousands of travel trailers, part of a half a billion dollars contract with FEMA. As he told us in our story, he saw and smelled what he said were poor quality wood products coming into the factory on pallets and leaving the factory as cabinets and flooring in the travel trailers. He installed much of it himself.

In this video Terry testifies that he thinks the formaldehyde at the plant also made him sick.

The company refused to talk to CBS, but issued a statement saying, in part:

"For the FEMA trailers it used components and materials that met or exceeded industry standards."

This tells us nothing, since there are no federal standards for formaldehyde in the components used.

This document, found by CBS under the Freedom Of Information Act, shows that FEMA knew very well that there was a problem with the formaldehyde. Notice the entries in the bottom row of this chart:

(Click chart to enlarge)

FEMA lists formaldehyde as a carcinogen and just to inspect the trailers they recommend PPE respiratory protection with a maximum exposure of 180 minutes per day. That’s 3 hours per day exposure for homes in which the Katrina victims are living 24/7. Better open those windows.

Most people still in the FEMA trailers are stuck there for obvious economic reasons. Many have no jobs, having lost them when the hurricane hit, and are unable to get funding to move. FEMA seems to have forgotten about them. While they continue to suffer from the effects of formaldehyde poisoning, HUD has extended the program under which they are living for another 18 months… except they must soon start paying rent which is scheduled to escalate until that time when they will all be forced out.

On August 10^th, 2006 Congressmen Henry Waxman and Charlie Melacon composed a letter to the acting director of FEMA R. David Paulison asking these questions:

1. Was FEMA aware of potential for formaldehyde exposure when FEMA ordered the trailers? If so, what assessment did FEMA make of the risks? Did FEMA consider the potential impact of heat and humidity on formaldehyde levels in evacuees' trailers?

2. Did FEMA consider purchasing trailers that did not contain formaldehyde emitting materials? Did FEMA consider purchasing trailers that meet the HUD standards for mobile homes and other prefabricated dwellings, to protect against risks that are likely to be associated with long term residence in the trailers? If not,why not? How much additional cost, if any, would have been incurred if FEMA had purchased trailers that either did not contain formaldehyde emitting materials or met the HUD standards?

3. Does FEMA have any information regarding whether the manufacturers of FEMA -issued trailers took manufacturing shortcuts in the rush to get the trailers to evacuees?

4. What information does FEMA have on the scope of the problem, in terms of the number of trailers affected: the number evacuees affected, and the formaldehyde levels they arc being exposed to? Has FEMA conducted any additional testing! If so: please provide those results. If not, why not?

5. What is FEMA's assessment of the health risks to the residents of these trailers? Please explain the scientific basis for that assessment.

6.How is FEMA addressing this problem? Is FEMA proactively informing evacuees of the risks associated with exposure? If so, what information is FEMA providing? Is FEMA offering to test trailers upon a resident's request? Is FEMA offering to move evacuees from trailers with formaldehyde levels above the EPA and CSPC guidelines? If FEMA is not taking any of these actions, please explain why not.

7. In the future, will FEMA purchase more travel trailers to house either Katrina refugees or future new disaster refugees? If so, what steps will FEMA take to ensure that any trailers purchased in the future will not have this problem?

8. Please provide all documents in FEMA's possession that relate to the issue or formaldehyde levels in FEMA-provided trailers.

As is to be expected with the stonewalling Bush administration FEMA has not complied with the requested information so Congressman Waxman has again called for FEMA to produce information pertaining to the formaldehyde situation in the trailers.

But wait! There’s great news! Now, even you can buy one of these trailers. FEMA is selling the surplus trailers in lots of 300 to dealers at cut rate prices so the dealers can in turn sell them to the public. Just remember to keep the windows open, and all this could be yours too!

Emmett Till - Cheers and Jeers

The Good
Our Most Fearless Leader of the Enlightened Bellicoscenti, the illustrious Agent 99, has brought to my attention that this past Wednesday the House of Representatives passed H.R. 923, otherwise known as the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act. The bill was passed by a 422-2 vote with only Congressmen Ron Paul and Lynn Westmoreland voting against it.

The ACLU reports that the bill:

authorizes $10 million annually to establish a special federal investigator in the FBI's civil rights unit focusing on solving crimes committed before 1969. In addition, it allocates additional funds to assist local law enforcement agencies with investigating and prosecuting unsolved civil rights crimes.

They go on to say:

The ACLU is heartened by the House of Representative's overwhelming support for this important legislation. Hundreds of African-Americans and civil rights activists were victims of violence during the turbulent 1950s and 1960s. Too many of these cases still await justice because local law enforcement failed to fully pursue the offenders due to personal bias or political considerations. In light of recent revelations at the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, we hope this legislation will send a message, that effective law enforcement and prosecution cannot and must not be politicized if it's to perform its duty - protecting the rights of all Americans.

The Bad
Set to sail through the Senate with a unanimous vote on Thursday, the bill was brought to a screeching halt when Congressman Tom Coburn put a hold on the bill.

Senators Chris Dodd and Patrick Leahy, introducers of the bill last February, had this to say about Coburn's action:

“My colleagues and I have fought long and hard for this bill in order to bring to justice people who have perpetrated heinous crimes based on racial hatred,” said Dodd. “It has been a bipartisan effort, and I am angry that one of my colleagues is delaying this bill’s passage under false pretense. While we allow another day, another week, another month to pass before enacting this legislation, we allow racist criminals to live the lives of innocent people when they should be apprehended and brought to justice. After so many decades, to further delay justice and solace to the families of the victims of these horrific crimes is simply unimaginable.”

“The Senate should not wait another day to take up this important legislation,” Leahy, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said. “This legislation provides necessary tools for our federal government, in cooperation with state and local officials, to vigorously investigate and prosecute these cases. As each day passes, new evidence trickles in while older evidence fades and witnesses age. We must have a sense of urgency about these unsolved cases – justice cannot afford to wait.”

The Ugly
Congressman Tom Coburn, who stalled the bill has earned the nickname Tom “rampant high school lesbianism” Coburn. In an article from 11/5/04 The Nation had the following to say about Coburn:

Tom Coburn - Oklahoma
The former doctor and three-term Congressman elected during the "Gingrich Revolution" of 1994 is undoubtedly the most right-wing member of his new Senate class. Coburn called his campaign against conservative Democrat Brad Carson "a battle of good vs. evil," suggested blacks have a genetic disposition toward a shorter life expectancy, and said "lesbianism is so rampant in some of the schools in southeast Oklahoma that they'll only let one girl go to the bathroom." Most noteworthy, Coburn favors "the death penalty for abortionists and other people who take life," explaining his ardent opposition by noting how his great-grandmother was raped by a territorial sheriff. Not surprisingly, he earned a 97 percent lifetime approval rating from the American Conservative Union (ACU).

Coburn has also held up a bill against cockfighting as reported at Think Progress:

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) is “holding up a popular bipartisan bill to crack down on cockfighting that was expected to pass easily in the Senate yesterday.” House bill co-sponsor Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) said that Coburn’s hold “testifies to the powers of these shadowy forces that allow this illegal and barbaric scandal to continue.”

A fine representative indeed!

Original links from Crooks and Liars.

For a background on Emmett Till see my previous posts The Death of Emmett Till and the follow up No Justice for Emmett Till. Also see the comments at those for even more information and links.

No Justice for Emmett Till

by Bluebear2


Back in November of last year I wrote about the murder of Emmett Till. At that time there was some hope that Justice might finally be served as the Justice Department had reopened the case.

The FBI took on the case in 2004 but handed it over to the local prosecutor in 2006, telling the prosecutor to look into Carolyn Bryant Donham, wife of one of the original defendants who admitted to the crime after he had been exonerated by the courts. It was Carolyn that Emmett had whistled at, leading to his torture and murder.

Then today we get this disheartening news. The Grand Jury in her manslaughter case has issued a "no bill", claiming they found insufficient evidence to issue an indictment.

Emmett's cousin, 64 year old Simeon Wright who heard Emmett whistle, said disappointedly:

"You're looking at Mississippi. I guess it's about the same way it was 50 years ago. We had overwhelming evidence, and they came back with the same decision. Some of the people haven't changed from 50 years ago. Same attitude. The evidence speaks for itself."

History professor David Beito of the University of Alabama who has researched the case extensively points out the one good thing which came of Emmett's demise:

"It gave a jump-start to the civil rights movement. "It did not create the civil rights movement, but it made it more into a mass movement. It really mobilized people.''

He also feels that there is now no one left to prosecute for the crime.

Simeon Wright sums it up this way:

"J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant died with Emmett Till's blood on their hands. And it looks like everyone else who was involved is going to do the same. They had a chance to come clean. They will die with Emmett Till's blood on their hands."

Over 50 years later and it seems little has changed in the South!

The Death of Emmett Till

By Bluebear2



Emmett Louis Till is born July 25th, 1941 in Chicago, Illinois to Mamie and Louis Till. The following year his parents separate, and shortly after, his father is drafted to serve in World War II. In 1945, Emmett’s mother learns that Louis has been killed in Europe. She receives very little of his effects beyond his monogrammed signet ring.

Segregation in the south is rampant and the states are functioning under the “Separate-But-Equal” Doctrine, which dates back to 1896. The influences of the Ku Klux Klan and the Dixiecrats are growing stronger, fighting hard to maintain the status quo. Since 1882, over 500 blacks have been killed in racially-motivated lynchings. Other race crimes are also on the rise. On May 17th, 1954, the Supreme Court, in the case of Brown v. Board of Education orders that public schools must desegregate. This raises the ire of the various white supremacy groups in the South, particularly in the Delta.

During this time the Citizen’s Councils begin to spring up, first in Mississippi, then spreading through the southern states. These councils are formed of the white wealthy business owners and grow to encompass most of the white-owned businesses in the South. Considering themselves a step above the Ku Klux Klan, they vow to fight Brown and desegregation.

'Twas down in Mississippi not so long ago,
When a young boy from Chicago stepped through a Southern door.
This boy's dreadful tragedy I can still remember well,
The color of his skin was black and his name was Emmett Till.

In August of 1955, 14-year-old Emmett is excited to take the train ride to his uncle’s house on the outskirts of Money, Mississippi. The day before he leaves, his mother gives him the ring once worn by his father. On August 20th, Emmett boards a train with his cousin Curtis Jones and heads south to Money, arriving the following day at his uncle Moses Wright’s house.

Three days later, Emmett and Curtis take their uncle’s car into Money, going to Bryant’s Grocery and Meat Market to buy some candy. The store is owned by Roy and Carolyn Bryant, a white couple. It caters to the needs of the black sharecroppers and their children. Meeting a group of local children, Emmett shows them some pictures of friends in Chicago, including a white girl. Some in the group of the kids dare him to talk to Carolyn Bryant, saying how he must know how to talk to white girls.

Although he is aware of segregation and prejudice in Chicago, Emmett is unaware of how extreme it is here in Mississippi. What happens next is in dispute, but on the way out, he either speaks to her or whistles at her. According to his mother Emmett stuttered some and when he couldn’t get a word out he would whistle.

Some men they dragged him to a barn and there they beat him up.
They said they had a reason, but I can’t remember what.
They tortured him and did some things too evil to repeat.
There was screaming sounds inside the barn, there was laughing sounds out on the street.

At about 2:30 a.m., August 28th, Roy Bryant and his half brother J.W. Milam knock on Moses Wright’s front door with pistol and flashlight in hand. Asking where the boys are, they are directed to the room where the boys are sleeping. Emmett’s uncle pleads for them to only whip Emmett, but instead they take him away into the night.

Taking Emmett to Milam’s barn, they proceed to beat him with a .45 pistol, but Emmett is unrepentant. Willie Reed testified later that he had heard screaming in the barn, but was confronted by Milam coming out of the barn with a pistol on his hip. Milam asked Willie if he'd seen anything. Naturally, Willie's response was, "No."

Then they rolled his body down a gulf amidst a blood red rain
And they threw him in the waters wide to cease his screaming pain.
The reason that they killed him there, and I'm sure it ain’t no lie,
Was just for the fun of killing him and to watch him slowly die.

When Emmett refused to repent, they decided to make an example of him. Throwing him into the back of a truck, they take him down to the Tallahatchie River. Standing on the bank of the river, hurling insults at him, they force him to strip. Then shoot him in the head. They tie a heavy fan from a cotton gin around his neck with barbed wire and throw him into the river.

The next day Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam are picked up on a charge of kidnapping, and held without bond in Greenwood, Mississippi.

Three days later, Emmett’s decomposing body is pulled from the river and identified by his uncle Moses, solely by the signet ring that once belonged to his father. Emmett’s right eye is missing, there is a hole in the side of his head, his nose is broken and his face is mutilated beyond recognition. The next day, Mississippi Governor, Hugh White orders a full prosecution of the men.

And then to stop the United States of yelling for a trial,
Two brothers they confessed that they had killed poor Emmett Till.
But on the jury there were men who helped the brothers commit this awful crime,
And so this trial was a mockery, but nobody seemed to mind.

The story of Emmett’s murder is starting to get out even in the world press where it is being described as a lynching and an example of the brutal racism in America. Emmett’s mother decides to give him an open casket funeral to emphasize this point, show the brutality of the people who had done this. Some 50,000 people from around the country attend the funeral.

On September 6th, a Mississippi Grand Jury indicts Bryant and Milam on kidnapping and murder charges. But Bryant and Milam work to get support from the white folks in town and the community soon claims they are innocent and chip in to pay for their defense. Finding witnesses for the prosecution is difficult since everyone is afraid of the repercussions if they testify. Willie Reed and Moses Wright are among the few who step forward to testify. Jury selection is held quickly. Blacks and women are forbidden from being on the jury, so it is composed of 12 white men, mostly farmers.

The trial begins on September 19th, but is recessed by the judge on the 20th to allow the prosecution time to find more witnesses. Starting again on the 21st, Emmett’s uncle Moses stands before the court and, pointing his finger, accuses Bryant and Milam of killing Emmett Till. Willie Reed also testifies to what he heard in the barn that night. After testifying, Moses and Willie are smuggled off to Chicago for their protection. Willie later suffers a nervous breakdown over the whole affair. The defense argues that the body was not that of Emmett Till and that Emmett was actually hiding in Chicago.

I saw the morning papers but I could not bear to see
The smiling brothers walking down the courthouse stairs.
For the jury found them innocent and the brothers they went free,
While Emmett's body floats the foam of a Jim Crow southern sea.

On September 23rd, after deliberating for 67 minutes, including time to get soft drinks, the jury returns acquittals for both Bryant and Milam on the murder charges. A week later they are both released on bond. Within days the world press is condemning the acquittal, and within a month, the American Jewish Committee releases a report urging Congress to bolster Federal civil rights legislation based in part on the articles on this case from the foreign press. On November 9th, Moses Wright and Willie Reed return for the last time to testify before the grand jury. However the grand jury refuses to file an indictment on the kidnapping charges. Bryant and Milam are set free.

The confessions of Bryant and Milam, for which they are paid $4,000, are published less than three months later by Look magazine, yet neither man ever faces any additional charges. Their businesses are ruined, though, since blacks would no longer do business with them, and most whites took to shunning them. Both men have since died of cancer, Milam in 1980, and Bryant ten years later.

If you can't speak out against this kind of thing, a crime that's so unjust,
Your eyes are filled with dead men's dirt; your mind is filled with dust.
Your arms and legs they must be in shackles and chains, and your blood it must refuse to flow,
For you'd let this human race fall down so God-awful low!

World attention had now been brought to the plight of the black man in the United States.

The Federal Government was pressured to do something about the situation. The blacks in the North, who had been complacent about happenings in the South, suddenly realized how it also affected them. This was the beginning of the civil rights movement in America. Only 100 days later, Rosa Parks refused to sit in the back of the bus. The movement began taking shape with the 381-day Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott that had been started by Rosa’s simple act of strength. Much more would follow.

Keith Beauchamp spent nine years researching the Emmett Till case for a movie he was to film, titled The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till. Based on evidence Beauchamp found, the Justice Department reopened the investigation into Emmett’s murder, and Emmett’s body was exhumed. Some evidence has leaked to the press, including the facts that bullet fragments were found and DNA samples were a match for Emmett Till. On May 17th, 2005, it was announced that the FBI had found a copy of the trial transcripts, long thought to have been lost. The investigation is ongoing. Unfortunately, Mamie Till Mobley died in 2003 and won’t be able to see the results of this new investigation.

On September 14th, 2005, the U.S. Senate passed the Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Act which formed a new federal unit within the Justice Department to investigate old Civil Rights cases. The bill was spearheaded by Alvin Sykes, president of the Emmett Till Justice Campaign, US Senator Charles E. Schumer and US Representative Charles B. Rangel

This song is just a reminder to remind your fellow man
That this kind of thing still lives today in that ghost-robed Ku Klux Klan.
But if all of us folks that thinks alike, if we give all we could give,
We'd make this great land of ours a greater place to live.

Bob Dylan The Ballad of Emmett Till
Copyright © 1963; renewed 1991 Special Rider Music

Democracy Now - Audio of Dylan Performing the Song
Democracy Now – Video of Dylan Performing the Song
(Pick your connection speed.) (WARNING video contains graphic and disturbing photos of Emmett's wounds.)


Resources:
U-S-History.com – Dixiecrats
About.com – The Murder of Emmett Till
PBS.com, American Experience - The Murder of Emmett Till
The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till – A film by Keith Beauchamp
Emmett Till.com
Bob Dylan,com