President Biden Signs Proclamation Establishing Emmett Till National Monument
The national monument will include sites in Illinois and Mississippi
WASHINGTON – On what would have been Emmett Till’s 82nd birthday, President Joe Biden signed a proclamation designating a national monument to honor him and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley. Till was 14 years old in 1955, when he was abducted, tortured, and murdered after being accused of whistling at a white woman while visiting relatives in Mississippi. Till’s mother chose to have an open casket at her son’s funeral, forcing America to confront the violent racism of the Jim Crow south. The child’s brutal lynching became a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement.
“While darkness and denialism can hide much, they erase nothing,” said President Biden. “We should know everything – the good, the bad, the truth, who we are as a nation. That’s what great nations do. And we are a great nation. For only with truth comes healing, justice, repair, and another step forward toward forming a more perfect union.”
The Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument includes Graball Landing in Glendora, Miss., the area that is believed to be the site where Till’s brutalized body was recovered from the Tallahatchie River. It will also include Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in Chicago, Ill., the site of Till’s open casket visitation and funeral, and the Tallahatchie County Second District Courthouse in Sumner, Miss., where Till’s murderers were tried and acquitted by an all-white, all-male jury.
House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch attended the signing ceremony at the White House, along with Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton, Attorney General Kwame Raoul, Senator Tammy Duckworth, Congress members Robin Kelly, Dave Schneider, Lauren Underwood, Danny Davis, Jonathan Jackson, and former Congressman Bobby Rush.
“This proclamation proves that President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are in touch with reality and what’s going on in America,” said Speaker Welch. “They want to make sure we don’t lose touch with what happened in the past in this country. While Republicans are banning books and trying to teach children that the racist and horrific institution of slavery was somehow a good thing for African Americans, Democrats recognize how important it is to teach the realities of our past so we can learn, grow, and heal together as a nation.”
