[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 202 (Tuesday, December 27, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1361]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 EMMETT TILL AND MAMIE TILL-MOBLEY CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL ACT OF 2021

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                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 29, 2022

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 450, Emmett 
Till and Mamie Till-Mobley Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2021 which 
will posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal in commemoration of 
Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley. After which, the medal will be given 
to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
  I loudly applaud and support the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley 
Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2021. The passage of this legislation 
is long overdue and today is a monumental day for the United States of 
America.
  This bill, the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley Congressional Gold 
Medal Act of 2021, provides for the posthumous presentation of a 
Congressional Gold Medal in commemoration of Emmett Till and Mamie 
Till-Mobley.
  After the award, the medal shall be given to the National Museum of 
African American History and Culture.
  In January of 1900, Ida B. Wells gave a speech declaring that our 
country's national crime at the time was lynching.
  Lynching was a terror tactic frequently used against African 
Americans in the Jim Crow South. At the time, no colored man was safe 
from lynching if a white woman, no matter what her standing or motive, 
cares to charge him with insult or assault.
  Unfortunately, many innocent adolescents like Emmett Till fell victim 
to these tortuous killings.
  Emmett Till was brutally murdered on August 28, 1955, for allegedly 
flirting with a white woman four days earlier.
  The white woman, her husband and brother, made Emmett carry a 75-
pound cotton gin fan to the bank of the Tallahache River. They then 
forced Emmett to remove his clothes.
  The 2 men began beating Emmett, nearly to death, gouged his eye out, 
shot him in the head and then threw his body into the river.
  Despite malicious efforts from authorities to quickly bury Emmett's 
body, his mother, Mamie Bradley demanded it be sent back to Chicago.
  Here is where she decided to invite media outlets to Emmett's 
funeral, left his casket open during the funeral, and let these media 
outlets show the world what racist murderers had done to her only son.
  It is, of course, fitting, and proper that this legislation bears the 
name of Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley. Till's slaying 
in 1955 and his mother's decision to have an open casket at his 
funeral, stirred the Nation's conscience and galvanized a generation of 
Americans to join the fight for equality.
  Fast forward to 1998 in the small town of Jasper, Texas, three white 
men offered James Byrd, Jr. ride home.
  The next morning James Byrd, Jr.'s body was found. He was beaten, 
chained to the back of a truck, had spray paint all over his face, and 
dragged alive until he was decapitated, all because of the color of his 
skin.
  This was an act of unfathomable racist brutality.
  On February 23, 2020, Ahmaud Arbery was fatally shot and killed by 
Travis McMichael and his father George McMichael. Ahmaud Arbery was 
jogging through his neighborhood, unarmed, and was tragically killed by 
the McMichaels who claim they thought he was a local burglar.
  They followed him in their truck and eventually shot him as he 
struggled fighting Travis off.
  Local law enforcement attempted to cover up the killing by telling 
Arbery's family that he had been killed while committing a crime and 
that the men who shot him would face no charges.
  Luckily, footage of the incident was taken and this footage was 
widely shared.
  Finally, after national outcry sparked activism, the McMichaels were 
arrested and charged, and convicted in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery and 
given a life sentence.
  This tragedy was immediately characterized as yet another modern-day 
lynching.
  More than 150 years since Reconstruction, some still try to utilize 
false narratives that dehumanize people of color suspected of crimes to 
legitimate their inhumane treatment.
  Sadly, hundreds of thousands of people of color have been killed, and 
many of the killers, like those of Emmett himself, were never 
successfully prosecuted.
  Over the past half century, the United States has made tremendous 
progress in overcoming the badges and vestiges of slavery. But this 
progress has been purchased at great cost.
  The Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley Congressional Gold Medal Act of 
2021 will ensure that Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley are properly 
honored for their sacrifice and commitment to equality and justice.
  In doing so, this legislation will help move this Nation one step 
closer to fulfilling its promise that in America all men are created 
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable 
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of 
Happiness.

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