I Wish I Didn't Know Emmett Till's Name

I wish Emmett had gone to Mississippi to visit his family and then came home to tell his mother Mamie Till about the good times he had with his kin. Then he went on to finish high school graduating in 1959. Then, following in his father Louis Till's footsteps, he enlists to the military for a few years and receives an Honorable discharge. He may have learned a trade in the military, maybe he is an electrician, and he comes back home to Chicago in 1964 and begins to work.

He meets a nice young lady and they fall in love. They marry in the summer of 1966, and his mother is so proud of him. She tells him that she expects some grandbabies real soon. In 1967 his wife gives birth to a daughter and Mamie Till is instantly in love.

Fast forward to 1999 after working hard as an Electrician for 35 years, a 57-year-old Emmett retires and vows to spend his retirement years with his wife and his grandchildren. He still does some electrician work at his church in Chicago from time to time.

In 2003 sadly he must bury his mother as she has succumbed to heart disease. He is still grateful that Mamie had lived 82 long years.

July 25th, 2026 is Emmett's 85nd birthday, he spends it talking with his children and grandchildren on a Zoom call. He tells them stories about his life and gives them advice as they playfully complain that, "times are different now Grandpa!"

I wish that was his life, non-descript and uneventful. If it was, I would have never heard of Emmett Till.

But Emmett never made it home. He was lynched by Roy Bryant and D.W. Milam because he whistled suggestively at a white woman, Carol Bryant. Decades later she admitted that she lied. He never received justice, the killers remained free until their death. Now I can never forget the name Emmett Till.

But sometimes I wish I didn't know his name...