Wednesday, August 28, 2024

On This Day in the Past-- Bigotry and Hope

First, two stories of hatred and bigotry:

Emmitt Till was murdered on August 28, 1955. He was abducted and lynched while visiting family in Mississippi because a white woman lied about Till crossing a Jim Crow line about decorum toward white women. His murder, the decision of his mother to hold an open-casket funeral so the world could see how brutally he was killed, and the printing of photos of his corpse in Jet magazine and The Chicago Defender is credited with sparking the modern civil rights movement.

Three young brothers, Ricky, Robert and Randy Ray were hemophiliacs. They all developed AIDS from blood transfusions. Much hatred and bigotry followed, they were kicked out of school in Arcadia, Florida and their medical records were made public. The local school board offered to set up a separate classroom building for them. The family refused and sued and won. In response, on this day in 1987, some asshole or assholes torched the family home, forcing them to move.

And one of hipe:

Eight years after Emmitt Till was lynched, the March on Freedom took place in Washington, D.C. The March helped push JFK towards pushing civil rights legislation. Much has been written about the March and, at this point, it should be general knowledge.

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