Add your name: Demand justice for Emmett Till!

The pain of Emmett Till's lynching is still raw for our family, but our push for justice is not over.

Sign the petition: Charge Carolyn Bryant Donham, the only known surviving accomplice in our cousin Emmett Till's 66-year-old open murder case, now!

Content warning: This email contains details about racially motivated hate crimes, violence, and murder. It is important that you read this in order to demand justice for Emmett Till and his family.

Dear MoveOn member,

Here we are, 66 years later, and there still hasn't been any justice for our cousin Emmett Till, a Black boy who was just 14 years old when he was dragged out of bed, kidnapped, brutally tortured, lynched, killed, and dumped into a river by Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam during a racially motivated hate crime.¹ Bryant and Milam were tried before an all-white, all-male jury in 1955, where they were unsurprisingly acquitted of all charges.²

They eventually confessed to kidnapping and killing Emmett, but due to double jeopardy protections in our justice system, they weren't charged or convicted for these heinous crimes.

The pain is still raw for our family, but our push for justice is not over.

Carolyn Bryant Donham is the only known surviving accomplice and she has yet to be charged for her role in the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till. Our family urgently needs your help because we are not giving up. Together, we can keep fighting to ensure that she is brought to justice.

Will you join over 100,000 MoveOn members and add your name to the petition?

Emmett's murder case was reactivated by the United States Department of Justice in 2017 when the ​only known accomplice, Carolyn Bryant Donham, appeared to admit that she lied to her husband Roy Bryant (one of Emmett's killers), and during Emmett's murder trial, by falsely claiming that Emmett made sexual advances and physically touched her.³

Last month, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that they closed their investigation into his death.⁴ We were hopeful that the DOJ decision to shut down their investigation would have been different, but the work doesn't end and stop here. We need to keep the pressure going.

Emmett Till's case still remains open in Mississippi, where Attorney General Lynn Fitch and W. Dewayne Richardson, district attorney for the 4th Circuit Court District, can decide to move the case forward by charging and indicting any known accomplices, including Carolyn Bryant Donham.

Emmett was adventurous, full of life, and such a joy. He didn't get a chance to fulfill his childhood and teen years, become an adult, get married, or have children of his own. He should be alive today. That's why we can't stop demanding truth, justice, and accountability. And justice for Emmet Till is now in the state of Mississippi's hands. They must act now.

And the worst part is, this is not an isolated incident. It happens more often than you would imagine. Black communities and communities of color suffer every single day at the hands of brutal systems designed to protect white supremacy and the status quo above all else.

The past has not passed. Lynchings like Ahmaud Arbery's, Breonna Taylor's, and George Floyd's are very much reflective of what happened to our cousin Emmett. There is a clear connection between past injustices and the injustices that continue to this day. We won't stop fighting. It is our duty to not allow the lives of those stolen by hate to be in vain. 

And there is so much work still left to do. Join me by demanding that the state of Mississippi do the right thing by charging Carolyn Bryant Donham in Emmett Till's open murder case now!

Click here to add your name to this petition, and then pass it along to your friends.

Thanks!

—Deborah Watts, Emmett Till's cousin and co-founder of the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation

Sources: 

1. "'We suffered for 66 years': US ends latest Emmett Till murder investigation without charges," The Guardian, December 6, 2021
https://act.moveon.org/go/160085?t=11&akid=315235%2E53570607%2EWebL7t

2. Ibid. 

3. Ibid. 

4. "Emmett Till's cousin: Accuser in case is still alive and must be brought to justice," USA Today, December 13, 2021
https://act.moveon.org/go/160086?t=13&akid=315235%2E53570607%2EWebL7t

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