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Hundreds clapped and some wiped away tears when a larger-than-life statue of Emmett Till was unveiled in a Mississippi community.
The statue is located not far from where a white man kidnapped and killed a black teenager, accusing him of flirting with a white woman at a country store.
“Change has come and will continue to happen,” Madison Harper, a senior at Le Flor County High School, told a racially diverse audience at the statue’s dedication.
“Decades ago, our parents and grandparents could not have imagined that a moment like today would happen.”
The lynching in 1955 became a catalyst for the civil rights movement. Emmett’s mother, Mamie Till Mobley, insisted on an open casket funeral in Chicago so the world could see the horrors suffered by her 14-year-old son. Jet magazine published photos of his mutilated body, which was pulled from the Tallahassee River in Mississippi.
This 9-foot-tall (2.7-meter) bronze statue in Spike Park on the Greenwood Railroad vividly depicts a living Emmet in slacks, shirt and tie, with one hand resting on the brim of his hat.
The rhythm and blues song Wake Up, everyone plays as workers pull the tarps from the characters. Dozens of people rushed forward, taking photos and videos with their phones.
Anna-Maria Webster of Rochester, New York, burst into tears.
“It’s nice to be here,” said Ms. Webster, who attended the ceremony with relatives in Mississippi on a sunny afternoon. Speaking of Emmett’s mother, she said: “Imagine the ordeal she went through – all lies.”
Mississippi has the highest percentage of black residents at about 38%. Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson, whose district encompasses the Delta, noted that Mississippi had no Black elected officials when Emmett was killed. He said Emmett’s death helped spur change.
“But you know, change is always going to get slower and slower,” said Mr. Thompson, the only black member of Mississippi’s current congressional delegation.
“In dedicating this monument to Emmett Till, what we’re doing is recommitting to the spirit of change that brings change to our community.”
The statue is a short drive from an elaborate Confederate monument outside the Le Flor County Courthouse and about 10 miles from the ramshackle store ruins of the Chinley Bryant Grocery and Meat Market.
The statue’s unveiling coincides with this month’s release of “Till,” a film that explores Mrs. Till-Mobley’s personal trauma over her son’s death and her transformation into a civil rights activist.
The Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr, the last living witness to the kidnapping of his cousin, was unable to travel from Illinois for Friday’s sacrifice. But he told The Associated Press on Wednesday: “We just thank God that someone left his name there.”
Some people wrongly believe Emmett is getting what he deserves for breaking the taboo of flirting with white women, he said, adding that many didn’t want to talk about the case for decades.
“Now that people are interested in it, it’s a godsend,” Mr Parker said. “You know what his mother said: ‘I hope he didn’t die in vain.'”
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