emmett till

I am so pleased to read that MS authorities plan to reopen the investigation into the murder of Emmett Till.

Till was a 14 year old African american boy visiting cousins in Mississippi in 1955, when he was dragged out of his Uncle's home in the middle of the night by several white men. He was brutally tortured and killed. The men admitted to the murder in a national magazine after they had already been tried and acquitted, meaning that they were totally off the hook because of double jeopardy protections.

But now new charges may be brought against some folks who may have been involved with the killing -- people who are still alive.

When I saw the documentary about Emmett Till -- the one that essentially re-opened this investigation -- the part that hit me hardest was his mother talking about seeing his battered body for the first time, and how sad she had been to see that the men had knocked out her son's teeth. "He had such beautiful teeth," she said. "I was so proud of my baby's beautiful, straight teeth."

My own son is 13 years old.