![]() ![]() House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jefferies said the monument “places the life and legacy of Emmett Till among our nation’s most treasured memorials.” Al Sharpton said the Till national monument designation tells him “that out of pain comes power.” On Tuesday, reaction poured in from other elected officials and from the civil rights organizing community. We should know everything - the good, the bad, the truth of who we are as a nation. “We can’t just choose to learn what we want to know. “At a time when there are those who seek to ban books (and) bury history, we’re making clear, crystal clear,” Biden said. The move comes as conservative leaders, mostly at the state and local levels, push legislation that limits the teaching of slavery and Black history in public schools. It’s the fourth such designation by the Democratic president’s administration, reflecting its broader civil rights agenda, the White House said. “Today, on what would have been Emmett’s 82nd birthday, we add another chapter in the story of remembrance and healing,” Biden said. Before signing the proclamation, the president said he marvels at the courage of the Till family to “find faith and purpose in pain.” With the stroke of Biden’s pen, the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument, located across three sites in two states, became federally-protected places. “Back then in the darkness, I could never imagine the moment like this, standing in the light of wisdom, grace and deliverance,” he said. “It has been quite a journey for me from the darkness to the light,” Parker said during a proclamation signing ceremony at the White House attended by dozens, including other family members, members of Congress and civil rights leaders. The Black teenager from Chicago, whose abduction, torture and killing in Mississippi in 1955 helped propel the Civil Rights Movement, is now an American story, not just a civil rights story, said Till’s cousin the Rev. When President Joe Biden signed a proclamation Tuesday establishing a national monument honoring Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, it marked the fulfillment of a promise Till’s relatives made after his death 68 years ago. ![]()
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