[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 116 (Thursday, July 16, 2026)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E699-E700]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HE COULD HAVE BEEN ME

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DANNY K. DAVIS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 16, 2026

  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize Emmett Louis 
Till. Emmett Louis Till was born July 25, 1941. I was born September 6, 
1941--just forty-two days later. Had Emmett lived, he would be turning 
85 years old today. I turn 85 in September. We are the same age. We 
came into this world together, and that truth has never left me.
  In the summer of 1955, when Emmett was murdered in Mississippi, I was 
14 years old--living in Parkdale, Arkansas, and visiting my grandfather 
in Mississippi every summer, just as Emmett visited his great-uncle. 
When that news reached us, it terrified every Black family in the 
South. The thought that formed in my mind at 14 years old has stayed 
with me every day of my life: that could have been me.
  Emmett's mother, the incomparable Mrs. Mamie Till-Mobley, turned 
unimaginable grief into the most courageous act in American history. 
She opened that casket and said: ``Let the people see what I've seen.'' 
That decision ignited the Civil Rights Movement. Rosa Parks said she 
thought of Emmett Till before she refused to give up her seat. I was 
privileged to know Mrs. Till-Mobley personally, and I carry her courage 
with me in everything I do.
  In her honor, I introduced legislation to establish the Emmett Till 
and Mamie Till-Mobley National Historic Site in Illinois--because their 
story must be protected, taught, and never forgotten.
  Tonight we celebrate what would have been Emmett's 85th birthday. He 
should be here--

[[Page E700]]

gray-haired, surrounded by grandchildren, full of stories. The distance 
between his fate and mine was not character or worth. It was chance. 
And that is why I will never stop working to ensure that no mother ever 
has to do what Mamie Till-Mobley did.
  I wish Emmett a Happy Birthday. We carry him. We remember him. We 
will not rest until the justice he never received in life is fully 
honored in history.

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