The Murder of Emmett Till

Listen intently now, if you will,

To the sorrowful story of Emmett Till--

A black fourteen-year-old lad

Who hadn't done what they said he had

 

In August of 1955.

It's possible he could still be alive

If only he…if only…well,

Listen to what I have to tell.

Caught in one of those circumstances

Of having made sexual advances,

Till, whose actions were taken for granted--

Note: his accuser later recanted--

 

Was brutally tortured, lynched, and shot.

His body was left in the river to rot

Not very far from Glendora, Miss.

How shocking to hear stories like this!

 

Two white men, in a great hurry,

Were later acquitted by an all-white jury.

Such incidents are a wound indeed

On the soul of America. Watch it bleed!

 

In 2007 a sign was erected

At the site of the murder, but someone objected,

And suddenly the sign disappeared,

Just as many people had feared.

 

A second sign replaced number one,

But thugs seeking perverse fun

Destroyed the sign with bullets, and so

Sign number two had to go.

 

Officials did what they had to do,

And sign number three replaced number two.

Within a few weeks, it, too, was marred

With bullet holes leaving it scarred.

 

The bullet-riddled sign demonstrates

There's work left to do in all fifty states.

Prejudice and hatred are blinding;

The road to justice is long and winding.

 

-by Bob B (8-21-18)