Ever hear of the tragic story of Emmett Til? Read about it here and here. Emmett was a fourteen year old African American boy who was born and raised in Chicago, IL and was visiting family in Money, Mississippi in the summer of 1955. While at a small local grocery store Emmett whistled, flirted, or looked too long (accounts vary and there is doubt as to whether Emmett did anything at all) at a 21 year old white woman by the name of Carolyn Bryant. This enraged Roy, Carolyn's husband, so much that a few nights later he and another accomplice kidnapped Emmett from his great uncle's house. They took him to a barn where they mercilessly tortured him. Among other things Emmett's face was beaten beat beyond recognition and one of his eyes gouged out. Not satisfied, Roy and his accomplice put a bullett in Emmett's head and dumped his body in the Tallahatchie River. In the hopes of keeping his body submerged part of a cotton gin was tied around his neck with barbed wire. Nevertheless, authorities discovered Emmett's body three days later. In a trial that would make OJ Simpson's look like a beacon of justice, both Roy and his accomplice were acquitted. Only a few months later to admit publicly (thanks to double jeopardy) that they did in fact kill Emmett Til.
Unfortunately, racially motivated murders were quite common in the South so it looked as if Emmett would suffer and die in anonymity. This would have been the case, if it wasn't for his brave mother Mamie. Rather than let Emmett's body be quickly buried in Mississsippi, she demanded that it be brought back to Chicago. Upon it's arrival mom had the unimaginable task of identifying her boy. His face, after torture and three days in the water, was beyond recognition and his body reeked of decay. That's when Mamie did something so remarkable and so courageous that the world would be forced to take notice. Mamie demanded an open casket for the viewing. In her own words, "There was just no way I could describe what was in that box. No way. And I just wanted the world to see." Reports say the decomposition could be smelled two blocks away. Magazines and papers took notice and Emmett became a symbol for the civil right's movement. The world could no longer look the other way.
This week an anti-abortion protest is taking place near Romeoville. Among other things they will be utilizing signs with graphic pictures of aborted babies. Many are decrying this as disgusting and inappropriate. Disgusting? Yes. Inappropriate? No. You see, there was a time when we could believe the lie that these babies were nothing more than unformed tissue. Those days are gone. Through the wonder of ultrasound technology one can clearly see that these are babies. They have eyes, fingers, a nose, tiny little feet, and they most certainly experience pain. When we went to have an ultrasound of our twins one of my boys mooned the camera. I knew at that point he was a Stover. Our nation can no longer look the other way. The casket is open and the stench of death is sickening. You may support a "woman's right to choose" but let's be perfectly clear in what it is that's being chosen. We cannot deceive ourselves any longer. We can no longer look the other way.
