On July 25, 2023, President Joe Biden honored Emmett Till and his mother by signing a proclamation that was dedicated to them both. The proclamation established a monument of Emmett Till and it will be protected by federal law enforcement and funded by the National Park Service. It will serve as a remembrance in the hopes to counter the censoring of U.S. history as some states are beginning to exclude the details of America’s racial past in race education.
Emmett Till was 14 when he was brutally lynched in 1955 in Money, Mississippi after being accused to whistled at a white woman.
82 years following the death of Till, Joe Biden signed the proclamation to honor Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument which will be protected by federal law enforcement and funded by the National Park Service. The monument will serve to memorialize the country’s dark racial history as an effort to counter some state-level actions to sensor race education.
President of the non-profit organization, the Emmett Till & Mamie Till-Mobley Institute, Christopher Benson spoke on the signing of the proclamation by stating “We have a memorial now that is not erasable. It can’t be banned and it can’t be censored, and we think that’s a very important thing.”
84-year-old Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr, cousin of Emmett Till and also with him on the night of his murder, attended the ceremony which included almost 60 guests. On his way, he stated during an interview “America is changing, America is making progress.”
