By AFRO Staff
Director Chinomye Chukwu recently released a film focused on the life of Emmett Louis Till, the 14-year-old boy who, in death, became a major catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement in 1955.
The film was released in select theaters on Oct. 14 after a showing at the 2022 New York Film Festival on Oct. 1.
“Till” is set for official release across the nation on Oct. 28. The movie has received positive and negative reviews–and death threats.
The movie follows Mamie Till-Mobley as she moves from being a distraught mother to brave activist against the injustices of her day due to racial hatred.
Proving that there is still much to be done regarding racial hatred in America, just days after the film was released in select theaters this month, threats of violence soon followed.
“We have information that indicates that there are planned coordinated violent attacks to be carried out against children and adults in daycare and other facilities within the Black community across the United States,” said Pastor of the Nu Season Nu Day Church and Ministries, Rev. Tamara England Wilson, D.Min., in a statement sent to the AFRO and other media organizations. “This information has been obtained from sources that have been tracking communication among several groups and individuals on the dark web. Therefore, we are asking that Black daycare centers across America heighten their security to adequately prepare for this potential threat.”
After being accused of lightly flirting with Carolyn Bryant, a White woman operating her family’s country store, Emmett Till was tortured and lynched. The alleged perpetrators, Bryant’s husband, Rob Bryant, and her brother-in-law, J.W. Milam snatched Till from his uncle’s home in the middle of the night. His swollen body was later found in the Tallahatchie River.
After a trial, covered extensively by AFRO reporter Jimmy Hicks, the men were freed. They then openly confessed to their crime, as they knew they would not be retried.
The case has never left the Black American consciousness, as mothers before and after Till Mobley continue to lose their sons to racial violence.
Though many may think the story is old and doesn’t need retelling, Bryant, the woman who’s cry set Till’s horrible death in motion, is still very much alive. This year, an arrest warrant more than 70 years old was discovered boxed in the basement of a Mississippi courthouse.
The AFRO spoke to members of Till’s family regarding the uncovered warrant.
“It has been known that there was an arrest warrant that was not served,” said Priscilla Sterling, a cousin of Till’s. Sterling is the founder of the Emmett Till Justice for Families Foundation. “It was by the grace of God that the arrest warrant was found.”
“We feel like she is still being protected today,” Sterling said in her interview with the AFRO. “The way that we move forward in unity is [to] allow Carolyn Bryant to face justice.”
“Till” is already showing in Baltimore City and County, and at a wide range of movie theaters throughout the D.C., Virginia, and Maryland area.
Produced in part by Whoopi Goldberg, the movie features Danielle Deadwyler as Mamie Till Mobley and Jalyn Hall the young martyr.
The powerful film has an equally powerful vocalist anchoring the movie’s soundtrack. Grammy-award winning artist Jazmine Sullivan released her track, “Stand Up,” on Oct. 7.
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