First, Kanye West made false statements about George Floyd’s death, now, he’s come up with another social media rant, wherein he claims to be a victim of “Economic Lynching” and “Digital Lynching”. While Kanye nowhere mentioned Emmett Till in his post, he did post a disfigured picture of someone, prompting everyone to believe that it was none other than Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black teen, who was brutally lynched and killed in 1955.
After his death, the black teen served as a catalyst for spurring the civil rights movement. However, it appears that Kanye may have used his death in his latest rant, targeting WME CEO, Ari Emanuel. This time, the rapper was speaking on behalf of 60 ‘Donda Academy’ students, whom he claims are a victim of a lynching, including himself. Here’s what you need to know about who Emmett Till was.
Who Was Emmett Till?
Seven decades back a black teenager, Emmett Till succumbed to a brutal death after Carolyn Bryant Donham (then 21) made accusations against the 14-year-old teen. Emmett Till was a 14-year-old boy from Chicago, who went to visit his relatives in Mississippi in 1955. He was the son of Mamie Carthan and Louis Till.
When Till went to Carolyn Bryant’s grocery store, she accused him of passing “lewd comments” and whistling at her. After this, Emmett was abducted by her husband, Roy Bryant (an ex-solider) and her brother-in-law, J.W., who then beat him up and shot him. The black teen’s disfigured corpse was retrieved several days later, decomposing in the Tallahatchie River.
Emmett Till’s murder trial was a complete mockery of the principles of justice and equality. The white trio became instant celebrities, and people were conducting rallies to support them. During the trial, Carolyn gave contradicting testimonies against Till. As for Roy and Carolyn, they were referred to as a “handsome couple” rather than murderers.
During her testimony, Carolyn stated that Emmett poured “ugly remarks” on her before whistling. An all-white jury acquitted both men following a trial wherein the biased jury deliberated barely for an hour. After their acquittal, Roy and J.W. sold their story for $4000 to reporter Bradford Huie, and two of the defense attorneys helped them fetch an interview with “Look Magazine”.
Roy and his half-brother openly confessed to the murder of this black teenager in an interview with “Look” magazine but never got charged with a federal crime. As for Carolyn, she is presently 87 and living a peaceful life despite playing a major role in Emmett’s death. In 1981, J.W died of bone cancer while Roy died 13 years later from cancer. No one ever underwent prison time for Emmett’s death.
The brutality of his murder and the fact that his killers were acquitted drew attention to the ‘long history of violent persecution of African Americans in the United States’. Till posthumously became an icon of the civil rights movement. Joe Biden recently signed the landmark Emmett Till Antilynching Act, which made lynching a federal hate crime.Â
In fact, the Mississippi grand jury once again showed the world that justice isn’t for blacks. In a shameful decision, the jury declined to indict Carolyn Bryant, who is now 87 years old. After seven hours of testimony from investigators and witnesses, the jury concluded that there wasn’t enough evidence to indict Carolyn Bryant on charges of kidnapping and manslaughter.
A Victim Of Economic Lynching…
Major companies have cut ties with Kanye West following his hate speech and anti-semitic rants. Now, the 45-year-old rapper has come up with another social media rant, trying to seek the attention of Ari Emanuel, CEO of Endeavor, an entertainment and media agency that owns the UFC.
In his Instagram post, he first wrote: “Ari Emmanuel Can you find a place for the Donda Academy kids to go to school that’s properly zoned for a school? I got about 60 children that have no place to be as they look to transfer. They tried to dismantle our basketball team. Those boys are being penalized without reason. Even professional athletes were threatened by their owners to disassociate.” He posted a disfigured picture of a boy, prompting everyone to believe that it was none other than Emmett Till.
Further, he mentioned the treatment he’s receiving as a result of his rants, emphasising that it’s the Donda Academy kids who are bearing the consequences. He mentioned that “this is what “post social media #Blackmirror warfare looks like. After this, he tagged “Economic Lynching” and “Digital Lynching” and expressed about the bankruptcy of his “Social Credit Score.”
Later, Kanye vented about how he has been cancelled by everyone, of course forgetting the reasons behind it. He wrote, “You tried to bankrupt Adidas and me at the same time. You tried to destroy my life after all the money I’ve made for the ‘business’ people. At least as I burn to the stake in front of the whole world… // everyone now knows who they need to really be afraid of.”
