| Author | Message | ||
     LiteraryGrrrl Rating: |
Hey all: Has anyone heard of Death of Innocence? It's the memoir of Mamie Till Mobley -- Emmett Till's mother. Just came out and was really good. Couldn't put it down. Emotional, and tough reading at times, esp. when she describes Emmett's body after his murder, but his mother was a remarkable woman. Someone I wished I could have met. She never had another child but went on to become a teacher and touched so many children's lives. I could go on and on, but I highly recommend. I know the writer -- Chris Benson -- and he told me that a lot of parents and grandparents are buying this book for the young people in the lives. My own 15 y.o. sister wws fascinated by the story and started reading the book. Just wonderful to see people picking up a book of substance. | ||
| Chris Hayden Rating: |
I think an excerpt is published in a recent issue of Savoy Magazine. It is a rather heartbreaking story. A local artist, Solomon Thurman, is related to the family. He has done some paintings on the theme of Emmett and the murder. He said that he was only able to go back down South recently, such was the trauma the whole family suffered after the murder. | ||
| Anonymous Rating: N/A |
Yes, I saw the Savoy excerpt. Nikki Giovanni also reviewed it for Essence. | ||
| Bayou Lights Rating: N/A |
I heard that the book is pretty amazing. I watched the documentry on PBS earlier this year, and I believe that Till-Mobley died in January of this year. I didn't know the book had hit the stands so I'll definitely order it. I was a little girl when this happened so I'd never seen footage of the funeral, etc. I'd read the stories but hearing the family speak of their heartbreak and frustration, watching the trial and then watching the funeral in stark black and white had me depressed for days afterwards. I can only imagine what the family has suffered all these years. Anonymous---what was Giovanni's take on the book? Best all, Bayou Lights | ||
| Cynique Rating: N/A |
I haven't read the book referred to, but I certainly remember the details of this tragic event. It was a big news story in Chicago even before the missing Emmitt Till's body was found. I especially remember the news coverage showing the long lines of people curling around the funeral home, waiting to view Till's grisly remains on display in an open casket. Then there were the pictures of this ghastly sight that appeared in a Jet magazine issue which quickly sold out, making copies of it at a premium, a "treasured" property to be passed around among friends. For years, Emmitt Till was a household name in Chicagoland, but his fame gradually faded, just like that of another local legend Fred Hampton, the minister of defense of the Illinois Black Panther Party. Following a tip from an FBI informer, cops broke in on where he was staying, and gunned him down in his bed, an unprovoked act which created such an outcry of police brutality by the black community that heads rolled in the Chicago police department. In the aftermath of this cowardly execution, national attention became focused and outraged by the criminality of white law enforcement in a black urban setting. Today's kids know very little about these young men who had quite an impact on the black struggle. | ||
| Abernathy Rating: N/A |
The recent shooting murder of Latasha Harlins by a Korean grocer was no less important, racially, than what Emmett Till's story represents, but because she was a female instead of a boy, the black community never did rally behind her situation as it did Till's. I remain bitter about that, because I notice that it's OK for a Korean woman to shoot a 14 year old black girl in the back and get no prison time while black women go to prison for such minor crimes as having a bag of weed or prostituting their bodies to feed their kids. It was a white woman Judge of course who let the Korean woman go unpunished. Probation doesn't count in my book when it's cold blooded murder. Black folks said that Latasha Harlins had a "nasty attitude", as though that justified her murder. No one ever said that Till deserved his lynching simply because he was a child (as Harlins was) and treated a white woman to the same sexist "cat call" that he had seen grown men treat women to. All these years later, we still obsess over this young black male's murder and about Rodney King, but when such evils befall black females, we get over it quick and in a hurry. Just a thought. May Latasha Harlins rest in peace. | ||
| Abernathy Rating: N/A |
The Korean woman's defense was that...."she was fearful of the little girl--because she was BLACK". That was her defense. The child cussed the woman, for accusing of her "wanting" to steal something from the liquor store--but the child left the bottle of orange juice on the counter and turned around to LEAVE the store. The Korean woman killed her and didn't go to prison. White woman judge let her off. That child...represented ALL black children. But black people didn't do a thing about it. Emmett Till story all over again. | ||
| ABM Rating: N/A |
Abernathy, I am not disagreeing with you. But I have some questions and observations. First, how do you define "recent"? Because you comment that Latasha Harlin's murder was "recent" when to my recollections that occurred over 12 years ago. Also, there are many who feel that Harlin's killing was as much the source of the '92 LA Riots as was the infamous unlawful Rodney King beating and acquittals. If that is true, couldn't one argue that the Riots were a VERY strong, if not appropriate, response to Harlin's murder? And you may recall that many of the shop owners who were targeted by Riots' looters were Korean. Lastly, I agree that Harlin's murder was underplayed among all news media and among Black people & communities. I think, however, the way and the alleged reason (ogling a white woman) why Emmitt Till was killed, that - because of the Ebony/Jet photos - we saw the macabre evidence of what was so hatefully done to him, all the sociopolitical pretext of prior lynchings, racism and Jim Crow and the ascent of bold, fiery young southern Black activists (e.g., MLK, Rosa Parks, Medger Evers, etc.) converged together to make Till's murder into a uniquely symbolic and galvanizing event within the African American fight for Civil Rights. | ||
| Night Crawler Rating: N/A |
(ABM) Harlins Death came long after the 1992 riots. The Riots had NOTHING to do with Harlins. I agree with Abernathy--Harlins death got no adequate response from black community because she was a female. Imagine the outcry that would have happened if a black 14 year old MALE had been shot in the back and killed by a Korean grocer. Rodney King was a grown man and "criminal" and look how the black Comm. rallied behind him. Harlins was the "Emmett Till" of our generation, it doesn't take ogling at a white woman to highlight racial inequality. (Harlins was killed for the same EXACT reason as Till)--she caused fear in another person based on her black skin. Think about that. | ||
| Cynique Rating: N/A |
By the time Harkins was murdered, people had become case hardened to killings because violence had become a way of life in the inner cities. Emmitt Till was "lynched" in the 1950s and the social climate was entirely different then. It's been said that his murder triggered the civil rights movement. And, believe me, Emmitt Till didn't cause fear in the arrogant red necks who killed him. He fueled their hate. They later bragged about what they had done. This incident had very dramatic overtones as opposed to the Harlins' one which was apparently not viewed as a crime of hate. | ||
| JustTheFacts Rating: N/A |
Night Crawler, Harlins' death wasn't as long after the riot, as you say, nor were the community as quiet. Don't know where you reside but I live on the East Coast and there were a lot ongoing coverage of all these incidents. Read below, taken from: http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/1884/The_senseless_death_of_L atasha_Harlins March 16 On this date in 1991, Latasha Harlins was killed. 13 days after the Rodney King beating, a storeowner shot and killed Black teenager Harlins in the back of the head. The merchant, Soon Ja Du, a 49-year old Korean woman who, with her husband, owned the Empire Liquor Market Deli in South Central LA was charged with murder. She was later found guilty of voluntary manslaughter, but the Judge, Joyce Karlin, granted the defendant probation. The store was later firebombed. | ||
| Chris Hayden Rating: N/A |
Cynique: I partially agree with you. I think that the Harlins murder, which the poet Sapphire did a piece on, didn't have the race and sex charged nature of the Till case--the killer was, after all a Korean (a minority) woman. And she was not set free and practically exonerated by a jury, she was placed on probation by the judge. And the killer didn't go around bragging about the killing either but from what I heard showed great remorse. I think also it occurred at a time when the community was freaked out over drug and gang violence--people were putting bars on the windows, scared to go outside, the hood was getting shot up--I lived next door to the Mayor of St. Louis and one night a dozen City crips did a thing on some County crips with pistols and rifles right in the street--they had automatic weapons, there was guys backing them up in jeeps talking on cellphones--the whole bit. Street folks were looking over their own shoulders, middle class folks were getting out of the hood or scared the activism that was dawning at the time of the Till Murders was a thing of the past--a lot of older blacks told me they identified with the store owner--yeah they were kids and our kids but folks were scared of them. Night Crawler and Abernathy there are things that can be totally explained by misogyny and sexism, but I don't think this is one of them. It looks like the folks in L.A. did handle the business as much as they could. | ||
| Rhiannon Rating: N/A |
OK, I was able to totally read this thread and not respond until Chris Hayden's last post. 1) Chris, you are saying that "being afraid" of a 14 year old black female who committed no crime--but was shot in the back and murdered--is reason enough for "older black folks" to identify with the store owner? I think that your comment about the store owner only confirms what NightCrawler said, because if she had been a young, angry black male--those same old black folks would have been engraged and up in arms. I don't think that being "scared" of a black child is grounds for murdering them or for looking the other way while it's done. #2) You compare the minority status of a Korean woman (people who are rabidly racist against blacks) with that of a 14 year old Black Child? Again--because this girl is "black", that fact that she was only 14 has to consistently be impressed on black people. Notice that? It's as if we expect all black female children to be adults at birth. A good example is the vilification of the 14 year old girl who was recently in the Pedophile Video having sex with 36 year old R. Kelly. Somehow our community has come to the conclusion that it was the little girl's fault--she was just BORN a whore, obviously, and like all the other underaged girls Kelly has sexed, she was "asking" for it. #3) You think that 5 years probation is good enough sentence for taking the life of a 14 year old black child? How could you think that? Also--you're dead wrong. That store was NOT firebombed. I live here in Los Angeles and I waited months, then years for that store to be firebombed. That Korean woman and her rich sons went on about their lives as though nothing had ever happened. She never paid for her crime and the life of a black child once again became the symbol of black people's failure to protect their own children (ie. in slavery), their own community and especially, historically, black females. Not only that. But the WHITE WOMAN that let the killer go is still on the bench. NO WONDER HARLINS WAS FILLED WITH SUCH ANGER. This anger is now a characteristic of black children. I think we have failed them miserably and your post Chris Hayden just highlights that. #4) I have also come to notice that when women like Delotha Word (the black Detroit woman beaten and thrown off a bridge to her death by an enraged black man), Latasha Harlins, Sakia Gunn, etc. are murdered--there is never a sufficient out cry from the black community as there would have been had those victims been black MALES. That is undeniable. Our community definitely values and cherishes the male while "looking the other way" as all kinds of evils befall black women. In another post, Chris, you praised long time sexist pig Amiri Baraka--now aged 70. Maybe that's where you get your indifference from. I for one just had to post, because I was wounded by your comments. Wounded is putting it mildly. | ||
| ABM Rating: N/A |
Night Crawler, Here are the facts: Harlin was killed in 1991, the LA Riots occurred in 1992. Now I don't know if Harlin's death contributed to the volatile atmosphere that resulted in the Riots. But there are several seemingly credible sources that assert that it might have. So why don't you do a little research before you go shooting off your self-righteous lip. And there are likely >1,000 Black people who have been murdered by non-Blacks who were later either acquitted or granted lenient sentences since the 1955 Emmit Till tragedy. So, although I mourn Harlin's death, I don't see how it is any more comparable to Till's murder than the countless other Blacks whose murderers were given a pass. And Rhiannon what world are you living in? It would be much easier to support R. Kelly's alleged victim (remember, he's yet to be convicted of ANYTHING) if she, her family and friends formally charged and publicly castigated Kelly for his alleged sin. But the family never even sought charges against Kelly (probably because they've accepted his bribes). It was only when his smut tape started to be widely circulated that the authorities were embarrassed into trying to indict him. But if the alleged victim doesn't even cooperate with the prosecution, no matter what and who he's doing on a video tape, it is going to be dang hard to convict. Actually, the reason why Kelly is being allowed to traipse about like there's no haps is because the authorities know they can't convict him, and, fearing that probability, if they tried to restrict him from earning his millions, after he's acquitted, he could probably then sue the State of Illinois for millions in lost earnings. And Black men kill other Black men with casual impunity every minute of the day and many, if not most, of those killers are never made to account for their murderous deal. Black men kill other Black men at least 5 - 10 times they rate they kill Black women (and probably 50 times that of killing whites). So why don't you, and Night Crawler, go deal that woe-be-the-Black-woman spiel to someone who don't know better. K? | ||
| Carey Rating: N/A |
ABM Checkmate, good job my man! I was wondering if those lame generalizations, and loose misquotes were playing very well in others minds. For example I don't know if they carefully read Chris's post or read into it what they wanted. Never did he say he condoned the murder of the black child or the sentence, he merely said he understood the contributing factors. One things for sure, if you come up in Thump's Corner with some B.S. somebody is going to put you in check.....good job. | ||
| Carey Rating: N/A |
Hello I am sorry for the wording in my last post. I should never call anothers opinion/statement B.S. I wasn't talking about anyone in particular but nevertheless it was inappropriate. | ||
| Anonymous Rating: N/A |
To answer your question, Bayou Lights, Giovanni liked it. She was a big fan of Mrs. Mobley when she was alive and gave an enthusiastic full page review in Essence. I also heard an interview about the book on Tavis Smiley's radio today with the writer, Chris Benson. Brought up some very good points and included a bit of an interview he had conducted with Mrs. Mobley shortly before her passing. | ||
| Tee C. Royal Rating: N/A |
LiteraryGrrl, thanks for your thoughts on this book. One of my reviewers read this one and really enjoyed it. I hope to add it to my collection and add it to my reading list. -Tee | ||
| Anita Rating: N/A |
I loved this book. Mrs. Mobley swept me into her world with the first lines. I finally have a story to accompany Emmett's broad smile and piercing hazel eyes. I also got a different Great Migration story in the process. Chris Benson summarized Mrs. Mobley's philosophy best: "Live a committed life, a purposeful life, and make each moment count. If there is something you have to say, say it now. If there is something to do, don’t wait: not a month, or two, or ten. Ten months can be a lifetime." | ||
| akaivyleaf Rating: |
I've not read the book yet but it is on my list to read. I commend Mrs. Mobley for her courage, for her persistence in never letting the generations forget what happened to her son and while there are have been other cases and likely more to come, her steadfastness deserves my attention to her book. |
