Biden will Create a National Monument Honoring Emmett Till

Emmett Till

By: Joshua Martin

On what would have been Emmett Till’s 82nd birthday, President Biden will honor the late teenager who’s murder was a catalyst for the civil-rights movement. President Biden will sign a proclamation Tuesday forming the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument which embodies the decades of civil rights work of Till’s mother, who continuously fought for equality for Black Americans following her son’s murder. 

Two white men, Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam was tried on murder charges about a month after Till was killed, but an all-white Mississippi jury acquitted them. Months later, they confessed to killing Till in an interview with Look magazine. 

The monument locations will consist of a site in Chicago, where Till was born and two sites in rural Mississippi, where he traveled to spend time with his family. The Illinois site is Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in Bronzeville, where thousands of people gathered at the church to mourn Emmett Till in September of 1955.

The Mississippi sites are Graball Landing, where Till’s mutilated body was pulled from the Tallahatchie River, and the Tallahatchie County Second District Courthouse in Sumner, Mississippi, where Till’s killers were acquitted by an all white jury. 

Till was visiting relatives in Mississippi when Carolyn Bryant Donham accused the 14-year-old Till made sexual advances at her while she worked in a store in the small community of Money, Ms. Till would be later abducted by Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam 

The two men were tried on murder charges about a month after Till was killed, but an all-white Mississippi jury acquitted them. Months later, they confessed to killing Till in an interview with Look magazine. Carolyn Bryant died earlier this year.

The new monument will protect places that tell the story of Emmett Till's too-short life and racially-motivated murder, the unjust acquittal of his murderers, and the activism of his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, who courageously brought the world's attention to the brutal injustices and racism of the time, catalyzing the civil-rights movement',” a White House official said in a statement.

Last December, Congress voted to award the Congressional Gold Medal posthumously to Till and his mother. For Black History Month this year, Biden hosted a screening of the movie “Till,” a drama about his lynching. In March the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act was signed into law, which made lynching a federal hate crime for the first time in US history. 

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Black Millennials Need To Go Out And Vote: Black Candidates You Need To Know

By: Omar Cook

We’re living in a current moment of a huge political shift. One that took us from 8 years with a black democratic president, to a new regime that brings an entirely new wave of division and hate driven politics. With that being said, it’s imperative that black millennials go out and vote. This is bigger than the cliche saying of “every vote counts", but our generation needs to be leaders in making sure that the black voice is heard through politics.

Black millennials are an extremely important factor in all areas of American culture so there is no reason that our own voices should not be loud in the political landscape. With that being said, there are a number of black democratic candidates that are running for office in this current election and it’s up to us to put them in position.

Andrew Gillum

Office Running For: Governor, Florida

Gillum, a Florida A&M graduate, is the current mayor of Tallahassee and has advocated for bringing the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour and expanding health care coverage.

Ben Jealous

Office Running For: Governor, Maryland

Ben Jealous is the former President and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and has advocated for reducing the state’s prison population, and working to reimburse teachers who are using their own money to pay for school supplies for their classrooms and and also wants to get rid of the the sales tax.

Stacy Adams

Office Running For: Governor, Georgia

Adams was elected into the state’s house of representatives in 2006 and has been fighting against the republican agenda since day 1. She already made history in May as the first Black female major-party nominee for governor in the U.S. She has the chance to make history again as not only Georgia’s first female governor, but as the America’s first black female governor. This is a big deal.

Letitia “Tish” James

Office Running For: Attorney General, New York

Working as New York City’s public advocate, Letitia James has worked to fight on behalf of working class New Yorkers for things such as securing heat for tenants in public housing units. If Letita wins, she would be New York first Black attorney general.

Ayanna Pressley

Office Running For: U.S. Representative for the 7th Congressional District, Massachusetts

Ayanna Pressley is expected to become the first Black woman to represent Massachusetts since she will have no Republican opponent running against here in the November election. She will also likely be a fierce critic to President Trump once in office office. In her primary victory speech, she had some very direct criticisms of Trump calling him “A racist, misogynistic, truly empathy-bankrupt man” and vowed that “change is coming.”

Antonio Delgado

Office Running For: U.S. Representative for the 19th Congressional District, New York

Antonio Delgado is highly educated as a Rhodes scholar who earned his master’s degree in philosophy and political science from the University of Oxford in England and is also a graduate of Harvard Law School Delgado. Delgado is working to create thousands of jobs to his district, and reform the country’s tax code, but ultimately he wants everyone to have access to universal health care! A Delgado win, along with a couple other close races, could help Democrats gain control of the U.S. House of Representatives in November.

Juliana Stratton

Office Running For: Lieutenant Governor, Illinois

Juliana Stratton currently serves as a member of Illinois’ House of Representatives, representing its 5th district. Stratton is a DePaul University law school graduate and has her sights set on reform for the criminal justice system. She also supports raising the minimum wage and is an advocate for women’s rights.

Stephany Rose Spaulding

Office Running For: U.S. Representative for the 5th Congressional District, Colorado

Stephany Rose Spaulding is looking to become the first African-American woman to represent Colorado in Congress. She works as a community activist, educator and an ordained minister and is working to improve people’s access to a good education and is also fighting for environmental protections.

Jahana Hayes

Office Running For: U.S. Representative for the 5th Congressional District, Connecticut

Jahana Hayes will try to make history by becoming the first African-American woman to represent Connecticut in Congress. Hayes works as a history teacher and told The Hartford Courant that “living in the margins” makes her uniquely qualified to run for political office. “I know what it’s like to go to bed to gunshots outside, I know what it’s like to wake up in the morning to a dead body in the hallway,’’ she said at the Washington forum in July, according to the Courant. “No job gives you that kind of experience. Life gives you that kind of experience.” Hayes was the 2016 National Teacher of the Year and wants to prioritize providing a high-quality education for public school students, providing immigrants the help they need to get citizenship and to reduce gun violence.

Lauren Underwood 

Office Running For: U.S. Representative for the 14th Congressional District, Illinois

Initially, Lauren Underwood didn’t have the intention of running for office, but when her congressman, Rep. Randy Hultgren, broke his promise and voted for a GOP health care bill that would exclude pre-existing conditions, She embarked on a journey to unseat him. Underwood is advocating for health care reform and decriminalizing marijuana.

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