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Awareness stressed at MLK forum
By Ally Asher
State Press
Fourteen-year-old Emmett Till was beaten and dumped into a Mississippi river more than 40 years ago after allegedly acting "fresh" with a white woman.
It was the vicious murder of Till that sparked international awareness of the racial problems in the South in the 1950s, said ASU Professor Neal Lester, who has taught African American studies for the past 11 years.
Lester spoke to more than 50 students who gathered at the Memorial Union Wednesday to discuss civil rights and the affects Till's death had on the movement.
"There was a very important part of history that led up to Martin Luther King that we tend to forget," Lester said. "The murder of Emmett Till was one of the most horrific incidents that led to the civil rights movement."
The event, spearheaded by the MU Activities Board's opinions forum, was held in conjunction with the Martin Luther King celebration to discuss the people and events that helped further the civil rights movement.
"It was the magnitude of Till's murder that caused such an impact," Lester said. "That was when black people finally said, 'Enough is enough.'"
Lester showed the audience a clip from Eyes on the Prize, a civil rights documentary that follows several landmark events. Among them are the stories of Till's murder, trial and the acquittal of his killers.
Lester challenged the audience to ask themselves why Till's story is not widely known and why his death contributed to the making of Martin Luther King Jr.'s courageous dream.
"When I see stories like Till's, it hurts," said junior Harold Branch III. "It has nothing to do with color lines. If you're human, it's going to hurt you."
Branch said Till's story is often talked about because people are still trying to convey the reality that racism is a problem and that it is wrong.
"Till's story was one of America's most blatant signs of racism in the highest degree," he said.
Lester added that his presentation was not held with intentions to add to the racial divide, but to educate students about a very important and often overlooked event that changed history.
"Race is a touchy subject," Lester said. "We must remember that Emmett Till is not remembered for what he did, but for what people did to him."
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