congressional_record: CREC-2022-12-27-pt1-PgE1361-3
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| granule_id | date | congress | session | volume | issue | title | chamber | granule_class | sub_granule_class | page_start | page_end | speakers | bills | citation | full_text |
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| CREC-2022-12-27-pt1-PgE1361-3 | 2022-12-27 | 117 | 2 | EMMETT TILL AND MAMIE TILL-MOBLEY CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL ACT OF 2021 | HOUSE | EXTENSIONS | ALLOTHER | E1361 | E1361 | [{"name": "Sheila Jackson Lee", "role": "speaking"}] | [{"congress": "117", "type": "S", "number": "450"}] | 168 Cong. Rec. E1361 | Congressional Record, Volume 168 Issue 202 (Tuesday, December 27, 2022) [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 ______ 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. ____________________ |