Emmett 

​A little more than a day ago Carolyn Bryant, the woman who accused Emmett Till of whistling and making sexual advances towards her, admitted that she had lied. If you never heard of Emmett Till (which I will find hard to believe), he was a fourteen year old African American boy who was viciously tortured, lynched and murdered on August 28,1955.

Roy Bryant, who was Carolyn Bryant’s husband at the time and J.W. Milam unleashed a fury of violence on Emmett Till that lasted for hours based on a lie Carolyn Bryant told. To imagine what was going through Emmett Till’s mind as he was being beaten and tortured is too much for me to sit and think about. The fear, terror and pain he felt was most likely amplified because he knew he  was being beaten and tortured for something he did not do. 

What is even worse is that his mother (who is now deceased) never had the opportunity to truly grieve for her beloved son because his accusers got away Scott Free. Not only that, she was harassed and bullied for years on end as she tried to get justice for her only child and son. My heart aches whenever I think of Emmett Till and what he went through because it was something that did not have to happen. 

I honestly cannot see how Carolyn Bryant was able to live with herself all these years knowing that she told such a disgusting bold faced lie. A lie that ultimately caused a little boy to lose his life. Anyone with a lick of sense could look at her and tell she was lying. Yes, it was just that obvious. Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam may have thought they were really doing something by torturing and murdering a fourteen year old boy, but in the eyes of many, they were nothing but cold hearted child murderers. 

Who knows why Carolyn Bryant decided to “come clean” after all these years. Maybe it was her conscience. Maybe it was her need to make peace. Whatever her reason may be, if she was to ever apologize for all the hurt and damage she has caused, I hope that Emmett Till’s family will have the strength to forgive her. It is easy to hate someone who has caused so much of hurt and pain, but that does nothing in the end. A life full of bitterness and hate is pretty much a life wasted. 

One thing is for sure, Carolyn Bryant may have fooled a bucket of ignorant minded folks like her for all these years, but there were and still are millions of others (both Black and White) who were never fooled. 

Until next time…