Emmett Till Murder Case Study

On December 14, 2014 Jim Morin published a political cartoon through the Miami Herald as a commentary on the (at that time) recent Eric Garner case. His cartoon became popular across the country, scattering rapidly through the internet and social media. He sought to represent and support the ongoing movement against police brutality and systematic racism. His cartoon showed that the brutal treatment of African Americans in the United States today, by the police, is similar to the past when African Americans were subjected to racism and lynching. Eric Garner was a 43 year old black man who lived in New York City. In July of 2014 Garner was suspected of selling untaxed cigarettes. (Eversley) Police at the scene forced Garner to the ground. The officer who was controlling the scene,

Emmett Till was a fourteen year old boy who was murdered for supposedly flirting with a white woman in 1955. (Emmett Till) The men who killed him were not found guilty of murder by a jury of all white men. Emmett Till’s death was in no way similar to Garner’s. His importance and relevance comes from the aftereffects his murder caused. Till’s mother, out of anger at the acquittal of the murderers, opted for an open casket funeral for her son. Thousands of people viewed his body to prove to themselves that such brutal hate crimes did actually take place. Afterwards images of his corpse were published in Jet magazine and the Chicago Defender. (Emmett Till) Fury spread across the nation. The murder of Emmitt Till became a catalyst to the civil rights movement. Within ten years Congress passed the Civil Rights Act. (Emmet Till) The murder of Emmet Till is a very good comparison to Eric Garner’s death. The rage over both spread like wildfire to cover the entire country. The modern civil rights movement, Black Lives Matter, rallied around Garner exactly how the racial equality movement did for