Monday, January 30, 2017

Disability and The Murder of Emmett Till

Emmett Till was a disabled black boy murdered for allegedly whistling at a white woman. An author has found the white woman, interviewed her, and in a widely shared Vanity Fair piece, told a reporter that the woman admitted she lied. This is not a shock that she lied, it is useful that she admits it, and there's been a lot of good commentary from other folks, especially black writers, about the pressure to forgive. It's important.

I just wanted to highlight this twitter thread (with permission), which makes many of those arguments, but also emphasizes a key fact - Emmett Till was disabled.

Many of the victims of racist violence in our nation's history turn out to also have been disabled, because oppressions magnify and multiply.