Still Injustice for Emmett Till

For some of you, this picture may force you to look away. I too am unable to bear looking at this picture for too long but it's a reminder of not only the injustice and racial inequality that was apparent in 1955 but flaws in our judicial system today.

As you already may know, this is Emmett Till. While living in Chicago as a 14 year-old boy, he went on summer vacation to Mississippi and whistled at Carolyn Bryant Donham. He was taken out of his uncle's home in Money and found murdered three days later at the bottom of the Tallahatchie River tied down by a cotton gin fan. His body was found with his face missing a left eye, his right eye dangling on his cheek, his tongue cut off and stuffed back in his mouth, his ears missing and a giant hole as a result of a bullet going through his head.

While the FBI reopened the case in 2004, they decided last year not to press charges because the statute of limitations had run out. Although the Leflore County district attorney still sought manslaughter charges against Donham, last Friday, the Associated Press reported that the grand jury issued a "no bill" due to lack of evidence. If the testimony of Emmett's uncle, another man who was outside the barn where the brutal murder took place and the graphic picture that was likely taken during an open casket funeral along with the confession of Roy Bryant, Donham's husband and his half brother, J.W. Milam in an interview with Look Mangazine isn't enough evidence, this country has a long way to go in ensuring justice.