Body to Be Exhumed in 1955 Racial Killing

Yahoo & AP ^ | May 5, 2005

[LauraleeBraswell]

How awful. This poor kid was tortured. It was done by a few people- whoever is still alive should be arrested and tried.

[Paradox]

Two white men charged with the murder - store owner Roy Bryant, the husband of the woman Till purportedly whistled at, and J.W. Milam, Bryant's half brother - were acquitted by an all-white jury. The two, now deceased, confessed to the killing months later in Look magazine

Sickening... Did they ever express regret or anything? I dont think I could live with myself..

[Conservatrix]

The guys who did it confessed after the trial, I saw the tape. There was a recent PBS show on Emmett Tyrell.
What is there to prove by exhuming that mangled, beaten body?
(Except to excite more racial tensions)....

[Conservatrix]

They never expressed regret or remorse, because to them, this kid deserved to be beaten to a pulp for whistling/making a comment to one of their wives. A boundary you dare not cross!

I saw them smiling and smooching with their wives after the acquittal....

[twigs]

My thought too. It was a terrible murder and I'm glad that they finally got some convictions from it. Did you see Sean Hannity's guests last night? Just chilling. Louis Farrakhan was saying that although blacks have been hated and mistreated here for 400 years, they would be such humanitarians that they wouldn't strap on bombs and kill us in return. Then Mr. Shabazz got on (Malik maybe?) and just got incendiary. I had to turn the channel. If I didn't know better, I would think something is definitely brewing...

[twigs]

I thought one or two men had recently been charged with this murder. Am I wrong?

[Conservatrix]

I hope so, it would never be too late!

[Paradox]

Someone should have offed these pigs after they admitted doing it.. if I had been a family member.....

[bdfromlv]

another million racist march or the black Klan at its best.

[Age of Reason]

That's one side of the story.

Can we be sure we're hearing all there is to the other side?

[Age of Reason]

purportedly whistled

Now it's "purportedly."

I wonder if all he did was whistle.

[AppyPappy]

I would think something is definitely brewing

Nah. Mr Shabazz only has one way to get on TV.

[Bar-Face]

If memory serves me right, Till whistled at Bryant's wife and made a suggestive remark. Just a typical teenage remark. Bryant & Milam supposedly came unglued.
My question is; what is the FBI looking for? I do not remember anyone else being implicated. Are they looking for a larger conspiracy? Till's body was found in the Tallahatchie River tied to a gin fan a couple of weeks after his murder. The body was in terrible shape. After 50 years, I wonder. I just wonder.

[Reagan79]

Some reports (even liberal civil rights authors) say Till made a very indecent sexual comment as well. Something about the pleasure of being with a black man. Of course that does not make the killing any less disgusting. You have to admit you have to be pretty cowardice and evil to kill a boy. This could have and should have been solved in a much more responsible and civil way.

[Alouette]

"An autopsy was never performed on the body and the cause of death was never determined."

They're going to perform an autopsy after 50 years? Unless this guy is an "incorruptible" (candidate for sainthood) the ME will have to call in a forensic anthropoligist.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Jessie Jackson (father of the year in Chicago) will do the autopsy.

[SJackson]

What is there to prove by exhuming that mangled, beaten body? (Except to excite more racial tensions)....

My guess simply to establish a legal cause of death so that the accomplices can be charged.

[Charles Martel]

My question is; what is the FBI looking for?

Accomplices who might still be alive, according to the article.

[Wallace T.]

Whoever killed Emmett Till should be punished, even if the murderers are now in their 70s or older. However, these investigations of 40 and 50 year old crimes seem to have an ulterior motive: the reopening of racial wounds in order to foment black resentment and white guilt. Neither attitude should be encouraged.