On Tuesday, July 18, Patrick Weems got a call from an official at the Department of the Interior. President Biden, the official told Weems, was planning to designate three sites as a National Monument in honor of Emmett Till—in just a few days. Weems is the executive director of the Emmett Till Interpretive Center, an educational museum in Sumner, Mississippi, near the spot where Till was tortured and murdered in 1955 at the age of 14 after whistling at a white woman. This was the call he had been waiting for. Weems would have to get to Washington, but—more important—so would Rev. Wheeler Parker, Jr., who was Emmett Till's cousin and best friend, and the last eyewitness to Till's abduction. It took us 13 hours to drive Rev. Wheeler Parker to the White House for this week's historic ceremony. With the help of a sportswriter, a sprinter van, and a bag of peanuts, we made it. |
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