Langston Hughes
(To the Memory of Emmett Till)
Oh what sorrow!
oh, what pity!
Oh, what pain
That tears and blood
Should mix like rain
And terror come again
To Mississippi.
Come again?
Where has terror been?
On vacation? Up North?
In some other section
Of the nation,
Lying low, unpublicized?
Masked—with only
Jaundiced eyes
Showing through the mask?
Oh, what sorrow,
Pity, pain,
That tears and blood
Should mix like rain
In Mississippi!
And terror, fetid hot,
Yet clammy cold
Remain.
In 1955, 14 year old Emmett Till was brutally murdered bringing attention to the racial violence and injustice in Mississippi. While visiting relatives, till went to the Bryant store and was accused of whistling at a white woman. He was kidnapped, tortured and brutally murdered, his body dumped in the Tallahatchie River. The two individuals who murdered Emmett were acquitted, outraging the African American community. This began mass sit ins, meetings, and marches demanding equal treatment under the law. in 2023 President Biden created the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument. It was his mother that insisted on an open casket, showing the world the cruelty and injustice of Mississippi. The shocking cruelty and injustice perpetuated on a young boy of fourteen galvanized the civil rights movement and will always be a reminder of the dangers of racism, and what happens when a society allows racism to fester and grow. As a Presbyterian, we believe that every human is created in the image of God (Imago Dei), this was a sacrilege against God's own image and creation. In our Confession of Belhar, the church is called to testify against all forms of injustice. We cannot truly honor our duty to God if we remain silent about the desecration of God's image against our neighbor.
In the Confession of 1967, our confession states that God has created the people of earth to be one universal family. In his reconciling love, he overcomes the barriers between brothers, and breaks down every form of discrimination based on racial or ethnic differences, real or imaginary...Therefore, the church labors for the abolition of all racial discrimination and ministers to those injured by it..." Lastly, the book of Genesis 4:10 cries out, "The Lord said, "what is it you have done, Listen, Your brother's blood cries out to me, from the ground." In the book of Hebrews 11:4 we read that by faith (Abel) who cain murdered, "still peaks, even though he is dead..."
As a Presbyterians and a Christians, our faith demands, our biblical obedience. We should not move on from injustice without an act of holy Lament and sacred remembering. May we honor Emmett Till's memory and never repeat the sins of the past.
Emmett Till and amie Till Mobley Memorial
PCUSA report on Racism Truth and Reconciliation
