Pensacola reflects on the lessons, still not over, from Emmett Till's murder

The hundreds of community members gathered together in Pensacola on Sunday for a private screening of "Till" know all too well that the murder of young Black men in the U.S. is still very much a reality today.

"Till" is based on Mamie Till-Mobley's pursuit of justice for her 14-year-old son, Emmett Till, who was brutally lynched and killed in 1955 while visiting his cousins in Mississippi.

The panel discussion and preceding screening of the movie at AMC Bayou 15, sponsored by the African American Heritage Society, sold out in advance of the screening and the crowd that gathered was a cross-section of community members from all walks of life.

"This is not just a movie for us, this is part of a movement that we are doing to make sure that truth, justice and accountability prevails in Emmett's case, which is the same thing his mother fought for," said Deborah Watts, the cousin of Emmett Till and mother to Tia Robbins of Pensacola. "She fought courageously to make it happen so it's always an honor for us to share that story and to make sure people understand that the fight continues, the struggle continues and what the parallels are from what happened in '55 to what's happening today."

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Watts is the co-founder and executive director of the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation, which aims to connect the past to the present and future. That includes telling Emmett's story and making sure that other young people don't experience the same fate Emmett suffered.

"One of the things that is clear in the movie is that Black life was devalued in the 1950s. But what we see with instances like Trayvon Martin, Victor Steen and Jordan Davis and many other people, is that there is still a lot of people that devalue Black life and when that happens, then that makes the Black body a target," said C. Scott Satterwhite, an English instructor at University of West Florida, who also took part in the panel. "What it does is through that devaluation of Black life, then it devalues our entire society."

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Satterwhite encourages everyone to see the movie and afterward to look more into the history and struggles of African Americans and to get involved. The struggles of the Till family and others like them are ongoing, and there are organizations and groups that are active right now working for equity and fighting injustices.

Watts' foundation offers programs such as Just(ice) In Time Training Seminar For Teenagers & Young Adult Males Of Color, education scholarships and curriculum that equips, inspires and empowers youth, women and their families for a better future.

The Legacy Foundation uses Emmett Till as a focal point so the public remembers the work of his mother, who was able to lay the blueprint for what families need to do even today to move toward justice.

To date, the Till family has been denied that justice.

"There are people that want us to forget the horrific, ugly parts of our history, but we can't afford to do that," wrote Tia Robbins in her Facebook post thanking attendees of the screening. "We must understand it and know it, to fight against it. This story is not from the past, it is still very much present!"

An all-white, all-male jury acquitted the two men accused of his murder, J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant, who later confessed in a paid interview to Look magazine that they had killed Till.

Carolyn Bryant Donham, the white woman whose story that Till confronted her while she was tending to her store alone at night led to his murder, was also never charged.

The Justice Department reopened an investigation in 2018 after a 2017 book quoted Carolyn Bryant — now remarried and named Carolyn Bryant Donham — saying she lied when she claimed Till grabbed her, whistled, and made sexual advances. The department closed that investigation in late 2021 without bringing charges.

"I really invite (the community) to join us on our justice journey, because it's been 67 years, and it's going to take an entire community, the entire United States, to get behind this because justice delayed is justice denied," Watts said. "And when it's denied for Emmett for 67 years, I think it impacts many communities across the country. I think we've held our breath for 67 years and if we get justice for Emmett, I truly believe we can get justice in other ways, and we can start exhaling."

For more information go to emmetttilllegacyfoundation.com

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: "Till" movie in Pensacola recalls Emmett Till Mamie Till-Mobley fight